


Phoenix Stranded

by unluckyrose



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Minor Original Character(s), a memory-wiped lup au, lots of fun confusion and emotions to be had, lup has to remeet her family and trusts none of them probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-15 03:22:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14150871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unluckyrose/pseuds/unluckyrose
Summary: Lup doesn't remember a whole lot lately. She remembers being a kid and surviving alone with caravans and criminals, but she doesn't really remember how she came to find herself dragging herself from a collapsed cave with no real knowledge of the surrounding towns. Something about a dwarf guy leaving her for dead? Everything was pretty fuzzy. It didn't really matter, she could find her way from here. She was used to surviving all on her own.





	1. Chapter 1

 

A figure was stumbling towards the edge of town.

The only person out this late was an elderly gnome woman. She was hauling her shopping back towards her home, six bags of some sort of vegetables and other various food supplies per arm. It was dark and the moonlight was partially blocked out, but her darkvision let her see pretty well and avoid tripping over any uneven road and sending her bags flying. But while her darkvision was useful, her eyes were old, and it took her a long minute of staring at the figure before she realized it was an approaching person, hunched over. Upon realizing this, she paused and bit her lip, considering. She had just decided to open her mouth and shout something, probably along the lines of “Are you okay?” or “Out late?”, when she watched the hunched over figure fall the rest of the way to the ground in a shadowy heap. Hoping this really was an injured person and not something dangerous, the old gnome sighed, set down her bags and trotted over to the figure.

They were tall and humanoid, though it wasn't easy to see from the way they had crumpled into the ground. Their hair was long and pretty with a particular shine that only elves could achieve, at least in the parts that weren't matted with dust and blood. Their clothes were ruined and filled with tears, still covered with some sort of gravel. The remains of a red robe were stuck around their neck and sleeves, but but the majority of it had been torn away or destroyed. She thought they looked like they’d been beat up by at least two gods, and a mountain.

The gnome stepped a bit closer and whispered, “Hello? You aren't… dead, are you?”

The figure gasped and lifted their head. It was an elven woman. Blood trickled down her face from a head wound and her eyes were wide with panic. She tried to reel back upon seeing she wasn't alone, but seemingly forgetting she was already on the ground, she just managed to get more tangled in the remains of her robe.

“Woah there, hang on,” the gnome reached out to touch her shoulder. The elf flinched. “Sorry, sorry. I'm not gonna hurt you, miss. Just wanna help.”

The elf focused on her, the outright panic fading after a second. “Oh. You're not a dwarf dude. That's cool.”

The gnome blinked. “No, no I'm not. What in the world happened to you, if you don't mind me asking?”

Her long ears drooped and she frowned. “I don't… know? A dwarf. I think a dwarf tried to kill me?” She blinked. “Quick question: you don't know me, do you?”

“Don't think so, first time I've seen you. I think I'd definitely remember you.”

“Ooookay. Cause get this, I don't either?”

Privately the old woman cursed herself for not picking up her shopping earlier. This is what she got for oversleeping, stuck helping crazy half-dead elves outside town.

“Can you stand? I think I should show you to the temple.”

The elf frowned again. What followed was a very clumsy attempt at movement that ended in her even dustier and even more covered in blood smears, but standing. “Woah! That's- yeah I'm dizzy.”

The old woman looked her up and down. She was covered in tiny cuts and held her weight heavily on her right leg. “I think you need a cleric very badly, miss.”

“Yeah, I got that. My mind's all… staticy? Thanks for the help, I hope you're trustworthy cause I have no idea what's going on right now.”

The gnome nodded and led the way back to her groceries, stopping to help whenever the elf stumbled. She easily scooped up the armfuls of bags, but left her right shoulder open for the elf to catch each time she stumbled. It was going to be a long walk to the temple.

“I could just levitate those for you,” the elf suggested, nodding at the bags after about the third time the gnome almost dropped them to catch her.

“A spellcaster, huh? I don't know how that really works but you don't look like you have it in you right now.”

The elf waved her away. “Magic is _way_ easier than this walking thing right now. I think? Fuck, how do I cast that again?” She stopped and patted herself down. Finding nothing, she frowned. “I don't have a wand? Or a staff? Should I?” She blinked. “Am I a spellcaster?”

The old lady sighed again and gently shoved her forward. “It's fine, dear, I'm very strong, I can handle some shopping.”

There was a beat of silence as they continued their painfully slow trek farther into town.

“Where are we, anyway?” the elf asked, looking up at the sky. The clouds covering the moon had broken slightly, letting it shine brightly on them.

“Phandalin,” the gnome shifted her shopping. “Weirdness central, lately.”

The elf opened her mouth as if she was going to ask, then grew pale and fell, her legs finally giving out. The gnome woman startled and reached to catch her.

“Gods sakes, what in the world happened to you?” she muttered, trying to help her up again.

The elf mumbled something that amounted to something about rocks and a dwarf again, then passed out.

-

_[the day before]_

Lucretia leaned back and looked down at her desk. Her neck clicked with a familiar pain, but she ignored it as she flipped the back cover of her latest journal closed and set it on the large pile on her desk. She had to be done, now. That was all her journals, edited as best she could, gone over for the third time. Everything about their mission needed to be included, and as much as she could safely leave about themselves excluded. Everything had to be perfect. She didn't want them to forget themselves.

The clock on her desk ticked, echoing uncomfortably loudly now that she wasn’t absorbed in her work. It was nearing three hours after everyone was supposed to be back. The security of being able to work without the chance of someone bursting in was nice, but the silent emptiness of the Starblaster was crushing. She looked over at the voidfish tank. It was worse knowing this would be the norm very soon. Her, alone, on a horribly big, empty, quiet ship.

Maybe she should go over the journals again. It'd take her another day at least, but she had to be careful. (She needed at least one more day with her family. She needed to give them one more day to find Lup. She couldn't do this while Lup was still out there, she'd be clueless and alone out there. If she could just put it off a little longer...)

Lucretia stood and her back cracked a few times. Wow, she felt like an old lady. That's what she got for sitting at a desk for hours. Wasting her physical youth and health, like the others told her. She pulled the stack of journals closer and began reordering them to go through again, thinking about how long it would take. She could do half of them tomorrow morning, then volunteer to go search for Lup with the others, then go through the rest the next night. That meant foregoing a lot of sleep, but it wasn't the longest she's gone. If you don't count the last week. Which she didn't, because she's taken a few powernaps.

The terrible silence of the ship was broken when heavy footsteps pounded down the hall outside. Lucretia jumped so much she nearly knocked the chair over as someone flung her door open.

“Lucretia, we're back!” Magnus shouted, as though he wasn't now standing less than 5 feet away. “Team meeting, we got some new info!” Then he was bolting off, back in the direction of the deck.

Lucretia's heart jumped and she darted after him. Did they find Lup? No, they couldn't have, Magnus would've said. But they had to have _something_ , he was far too excited for it to be bad news.

Her feet skidded a little as she reached the door leading out to the deck. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and stepped outside.

Lup wasn't there, that was for sure. She could tell from a glance that the mood of this meeting was anything but happy. Taako was pacing with his arms crossed and not making eye contact with anyone, closed in on himself and fuming. Barry was sitting at the table he'd dragged out here, frowning and tapping his foot distractedly. Merle was sitting in a chair and grumpily repeating a story to Davenport, who had his arms crossed and looked as deep in thought as Barry. Magnus had just come to a stop, returned to the group, and was saying, “Yeah, I got her,”

At her entrance, Davenport looked up. “There you are. Lucretia, we found a lead.”

She quickly stepped over to join them. “What happened?”

“Merle, Magnus, and I split up to question people around Neverwinter again, and we found someone with useful information.”

“ _I_ found someone useful,” Merle interjected. He leaned back in his chair and got ready to start the story over again. “So you know how we found some alternates of my family in this plane? Dumbest luck ever, I ran into some in a tavern. The Rockseekers, they can gossip like all hell. Well, no one but me thinks so, but I swear.”

“Merle,” Davenport said, a warning to hurry up.

“Yeah, yeah,” Merle said. “Anyway, I saw em and just thought ‘that’s cool, some of the clan’, but I wasn’t actually gonna go up to em until, guess what, I heard one of em say something about an elf lady in a red robe! So I go up to em and I say, hey! Rockseekers? Distant relative! Want to start over that story from the beginning and also buy me a drink?” Everyone waited as Merle paused. “Yeah, they only did the first thing. But anyway, so, Lup contacted Cyrus right after she went missing.”

Lucretia's heart leaped. “Did he know where she is now? Or why she left?”

“Hold on, I'm not done. She wanted him to help her hide something important, in the hidden mines down near Phandalin. That it was something really dangerous so it had to be hidden in his vault where no one but a Rockseeker could get it.”

“She was probably trying to hide her relic,” Davenport pointed out. Lucretia nodded.

“But it didn't work out. He said when they went in they got attacked by an orc raiding party. Lup got backed into a corner and tried to blast em, accidentally hit the ceiling, and the place caved in. He ran for it as soon as things went south, but the rat said he saw Lup go down and a rock snap her staff.”

There was a sharp intake of breath from everyone, despite the fact this must've been at least the third time everyone but Lucretia heard it.

“He's probably a lying fuck.” Lucretia jumped when Taako spoke. She'd almost forgotten he was there. He and Barry had both been silent this entire time. “That story’s bullshit, guaranteed.”

Davenport sighed. “It's possible but I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the only clue we have.”

“It, uh, it makes a bit of sense,” Barry spoke up. Taako spun to face him. “I mean, her leaving to hide the gauntlet. She was kind of, wrecked over how much damage it was doing. She mentioned it the night she left, remember? So it's not an impossible story.”

“So she's dead,” Magnus said, glancing between everyone there. “Not the end of the world, right? We can still find her, and now we can narrow it down a bit more. It's probably easier to find a lich than an elf woman.”

“Yeah but that's not the fucking point.” Taako crossed his arms more tightly, practically hugging himself.

“If she's in her lich form, why hasn't she come back?” Lucretia realized out loud.

“It's a lot harder to get lost or trapped as a lich,” Barry was frowning deeply down at the table.

“So we have way more information, none of it useful. Great job gang, hit the showers,” Taako spat, resuming his pacing.

“Okay, maybe she's still trying to figure out where to hide the gauntlet?” Magnus suggested. “Her first plan didn't work out so she's trying to find somewhere else to hide it before she comes back?”

“For this long, without a word?” Taako said incredulously.

Davenport clapped once to get attention. When everyone looked to him, he moved his hands in a 'calm down’ motion. “So, not much has changed. I think we need some rest, then we'll search more tomorrow. Maybe try to find these hidden mines, or get more information from Cyrus Rockseeker.”

“Sleep sounds a like a good plan. Let's just have some dinner and get some rest?” Magnus said hopefully, looking over at Taako and Barry. Taako glared at him and Barry still didn't look up.

“I think I'll, uh, I'm going to try and see if this plane has any sort of necromancer circles or anything along those lines,” Barry mumbled, pulling over a piece of paper and scribbling something down on it.

Davenport sighed. After a moment of silence, he drifted inside, alone.

He clearly didn't have any delusions about getting the crew to take care of themselves right now. Lucretia feels like not that long ago, he would have tried harder, and even succeeded.

Merle was silent for a little longer too, before also giving up and heading inside. No attempts to lighten the mood or encourage them that they'd find her.

Magnus pulled Merle's empty chair over to Barry’s table and looked down at the map. He looked dead on his feet. Both of them looked close to collapsing, backs hunched and eyes blinking too much. They started quietly discussing something about smaller towns, as if they didn't have the energy to speak in more than a mumble.

Taako continued his pacing, still curled in on himself and gripping his upper arms so hard his fingernails were leaving dents. When he saw her still standing there, he threw a death glarein her direction. “I know I'm some good eye candy but are you going to stare all day? Either help or fuck off.”

“Taako,” Magnus said in a warning tone, looking up.

Lucretia shook herself. “No, I… I was actually working on something, I need to get back to. Tell me if you guys need help.” She spun on her heel and slipped down the hallways toward her room.

Well, at least if Lup was dead she wouldn't alone and lost without her memories.

-

_[now]_

The elf woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling and a soft bed. She bolted upright, only to gasp in pain and fall back. Her head felt like it was swimming in acid and the room swam when she tried to keep her eyes open.

“Excuse me? Are you awake?” a voice asked.

A second of silence passed, then she cracked open an eye. There was a person standing over her, wearing robes with some sort of religious symbol on it. A cleric, probably. She couldn’t see much of the room around them, but it was warm and bright.

She was in a temple? Why? Her mind swam as she tried to piece together memories that she just couldn’t grasp. Had there been a kind gnome woman? There was something about night, and a temple, and shopping bags. An _old_ gnome woman, carrying a lot of shopping bags.

She tried to remember more. How did she get here in the first place? That was _really_ fuzzy. Something about a vault? No, a cave? A dwarf. Some dwarf tried to kill her. Everything surrounding that memory was so fuzzy and impossible to focus on, moreso than last night.

“Are you feeling better?” the cleric asked.

She groaned.

“Yes, that's probably expected,” the cleric nodded and backed out of her vision. “I healed you the best I could but I think you need some time to recover. I'm not a professional or anything, and I think you went through a lot. You’re probably in shock, the lady who dropped you off said you’d had trouble remembering things before you passed out.” The voice got slightly quieter as they left the room quickly and came back without pausing. “Here, you should eat when you feel up to it.” There was a soft clatter and a plate of bread appeared in the edge of her vision.

The elf grunted and covered her eyes with an arm. Her stomach growled, but she felt like she might throw up. When was the last time she ate? It felt like too long, longer than a typical 'i just forgot to eat today’ situation. Her stomach was stabbing her from the inside, but it wasn’t as bad as the total loss of how she got to be here, or who she was. Except, the more she thought about the pain in her stomach, the more something came back to her.

She was used to this. Starving. All her childhood, she'd been alone, tossed from relative to relative until finally hitting the streets. She's stolen food from markets, rations from adventurers, money from any passerby. She's never had a safe place to live, rarely a good meal, and she's always been alone. This wasn't the first time she'd found herself alone in an unknown place with no money and a stomach trying to eat itself.

It was all coming back, clearer than recent memories, still dull but probably just because it was so long ago.

She sat up slowly, and looked around the quiet temple. The cleric had gone into another room, leaving Lup with the bread and a glass of water. She picked up the water, sniffed it suspiciously, then drank it. She was lucky to find a cleric willing to heal her, and a buff gnome grandma to help her here. People weren't always nice. She knew that. Fuck, what if the cleric or the gnome expected payment? She didn't have any money, and the thought of staying anywhere near that cave long enough to pay off a debt made her shake.

She would give herself about fifteen minutes to recover enough to stand, pick up the bread, and head for a window before the cleric came back. She'd recover faster now her mind wasn't so fuzzy. She remembered now.

She's Lup and she knew what it was like to be starving and lost and alone. She has been her whole life.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote a lot of this fic for nano but as is typical of my nano writings none of it made any sense so i've finally edited it into something kind of coherent

Lup sat back and sighed, watching the fire flicker and push back the shadows. She chewed her fingernail and looked down at the map in her lap. Only a day had passed since she skipped Phandalin, and she wasn't totally sure where to go next. One big problem with making this decision was that somehow, none of the towns’ names looked familiar. Shouldn't she at least know which ones she's been to before, or their reputations? It was like she'd suddenly been dropped into an entirely different country.

The map didn't have any information about the towns themselves, just their locations and an idea of the size of some of the very large ones. She hadn't even decided what kind of town she was looking for in the first place. A big city would make it easier to blend in and go unnoticed, but people tended to be kinder in small towns if you had some people skills. In a small town, she could stay until they kicked her out. She'd have to get a job in a small town, though, stealing would be noticed right away. It wasn't like she couldn't get a job in a big city either, but employers would be a lot pickier. People chatted on small towns and she'd be noticed more, but it was easier to keep track of what was going on. Big cities did make her pretty nervous. Too much going on, too easy to get left behind or attacked without anyone noticing. In fact, the idea of those large crowds, anyone able to attack from any side, was causing anxiety to curl in her chest.

So yeah, starting with small towns are probably a good idea. She wasn't really running from the law (as far as she could remember?) so a nice place hidden away with a few friendly people would probably be better. 

She poked the nearest town on the map thoughtfully. She didn’t have any idea how big it was, but maybe there she could get some good info on the reputations of towns and good place to hide away. Besides, no matter what she needed to stop somewhere and get food. After the bread from the cleric she’d hid in an orchard in town until it neared sun up. She was able to eat stolen fruit until she felt like she was going to throw up before moving on so she wouldn’t be caught. Her stomach still hurt (mostly from forcing food into it) and she felt weak, but not as dizzy from starvation.

Lup stretched, yawned, and flopped backwards onto the hard ground. She didn't have any supplies. It would be hard to recover from this, but she could do it. She'd come back from worse. She really didn’t like the idea of travelling alone in a country she didn’t know that well, but she’d done it before. She would totally be fine.

Her ears twitched and she sat back up suddenly. Her eyes narrowed and ran over the surrounding trees. There was no movement in the forest around her. Huh. She thought she'd heard something.

It occurred to Lup that she also didn't have anything to defend herself with. All she had was a stolen map and the clothes on her back. Not even a cloak to protect from the cold (wasn't she wearing a jacket or robe or something before? No? Maybe it was so torn up the cleric had just thrown it out. God, why didn't she remember anything?) What had she even used to defend herself in the past? Did she know how to use a sword? 

She edged closer to the fire and kept her eyes fixed in the direction she’d heard the noise. Maybe she shouldn’t sleep tonight.

-

Lup was knocked out of her trance by the sound of a scream very nearby. It had only been an hour since she had finally managed to focus enough for meditation, and for a split second she was annoyed. She opened her mouth to complain, but before she said anything she registered what had woken her. She was on her feet and racing towards the sounds before she could think.

Tree branches drew scratches all over her arms as she pushed her way through a dense patch of forest before reaching the road. She had made her camp aways from the road for safety, and this probably proved to be a smart decision based on the scene in front of her. 

A group of people in cloaks were standing around a small caravan, basically a box with wheels and horses at the front. There was a large split in the wall facing her, probably caused by the cloaked figure standing near the door, who was holding an oversized battleaxe. Two of the people in cloaks were carrying a limp figure away from the scene, this one not in a cloak. Another cloaked person was standing by the horses, holding their reins in one hand and a wand in the other. This one seemed to be distracted, trying to keep the horses calm as they stomped about nervously.

Lup came to a sudden halt before she could break out into the open, instead slipping behind a tree and trying to get a good vantage on the situation. The door to the caravan was to her left, the guy with the wand was standing guard but looking in another direction completely. From the movements she could see through the split in the wall and a small window, two of the cloak guys were inside, going through whatever supplies the owner had. The ones carrying away the owner were moving to the side of the road opposite her. She could see swords on their belts, but their hands were currently occupied. Then there were the horses, which she was closest to, and the final cloaked guy on the other side of them with the reins and a wand. As far as she could see, there were six bandits and one victim.

So, bandits hitting a not very well defended caravan. What’s her first action, based on the fact she was completely unarmed and about to step into a six to one situation?

Okay. This was a dumb idea.

She waited until she was sure no one was watching her. The axe guy was watching the door and down the road, the ones in the caravan were busy, and the wand-wielder was focused on shushing the horses. Moving as quietly as she could, she stepped out of the tree cover and closer to the road. She held her breath, walking as quickly and quietly as she could.

The wand wielder glanced up, face pointing in her direction. Her heart leapt and she froze, ready to jump into a defensive stance. She’d fight with her fists if she had to.

His eyes passed over her, and he turned back to the others. She released a breath. Okay, she hadn’t known what race he was because of the cloak, but he clearly didn’t have darkvision. That was lucky as hell.

The rocks didn’t even crunch under her feet as she reached the edge of the road. From here, she could see much more clearly. The guys had dumped the owner the edge of the road, not hidden among the bushes but out of the way. From here, she could barely see the victim’s chest rising and falling. So they hadn’t killed them, that was a plus. The bandits had probably just put the owner aside so someone could find them the next time they came down the road.

Lup was only feet away from the wand wielder and the horses now. With a quick sidestep, she was hidden from him behind the caravan. Her back was pressed to the side of the wagon and her ears flicked nervously as she peeked around to see him standing just on the other side of the horses.

Dumb idea.

She jumped out of cover suddenly and screamed into the nearest horse’s ear.

“What the-?!” The wand-wielding cloak guy barely had time to exclaim in surprise before his hand on the reins turned into a serious problem for him. The horses fucking darted, racing down the road and taking the caravan with it, including the guys inside, the axe guy who held onto the back door, and, rather unfortunately, the wand-wielder. He was dragged, very painfully from his screaming, and the entire caravan disappeared into the dark.

His wand was on the ground, dropped in the chaos. Without thinking, Lup rolled over to it and scooped it up. The two bandits that hadn’t been dragged away were running towards her, drawing their swords.

Fuck. Did she even know any magic? Maybe? Why didn’t she attack someone with a better weapon?

She swore as the nearest sword guy slashed at her and she barely dodged. The dirt road seemed to slide from under her as she lost her footing and fell on her ass. Another sword hit the ground just an inch from where she’d almost landed. Why did she do this, this was such a bad choice, why did she bother-

A sword was coming right for her face. Without thinking she pointed the wand at her attackers.

Something bright, hot, and powerful spread through her. It started deep inside, like an ember barely existing, but in one second it roared. It weaved like hot tendrils through her body, expanding through her chest, down her arm, and into the wand. There was a fire inside her, then there was a fire in front of her. Both of the bandits screamed, a horrifying shout of pain that shattered the night air, and their swords clattered to the ground.

Lup stared as they fell. 

The flames dulled and died, but only the outside fire. The fire inside her stayed, though it died back down to an ember. But she could feel it now. Deep down, a powerful fire within her, beneath the surface. 

In a stupor, she climbed to her feet and stumbled towards the owner of the caravan. They were still unconscious, thrown haphazardly into the gravel and dirt at the side of the road. He was clearly breathing, but his hat had fallen off, revealing a concerning-looking head wound. She dropped to her knees beside them, ignoring the pricks of the tiny rocks in her skin. How did you wake an unconscious person safely? 

“Maybe I know how but just forgot it, hah,” she mumbled to herself. Her hand reached for his shoulder and shook it gently. Nothing happened. She shook slightly harder. Nothing happened. “Please wake up,” she said, “I have no fuckin clue what’s happening. Also I may have accidentally killed some bandits. Wake the fuck up please, I would really like to know I’m not dreaming this?? What the fuck???”

After a few more seconds without success, Lup pushed herself to her feet again. Well fuck, where to go from here? She glanced down the road. Maybe she should try to get the caravan back. It was pretty dumb to scare the horses away, now the bandits are gone but so was the caravan. In her defense, she said it was a dumb idea. Or she thought it at least.

Maybe they’d crash it or manage to stop. Might as well go check it out. 

Mind swirling and a headache growing, Lup started on her way down the road.

-

As Lup approached a large shape in the distance, a shouted conversation hit her ears.

“I _ could _ fix it if I had my wand!”

“How is that my fault?”

“You were supposed to be keeping watch!”

“I was! I don’t know where she came from!”

“She came from the direction you weren’t looking in! When you keep watch, you’re not supposed to watch  _ one _ place really good!”

She approached more slowly, but it wasn’t that hard to go unnoticed. The wand wielder was shouting at the guy with the axe. His cloak with torn down the side and he was bleeding badly, but he was at least standing, which was really impressive, considering. The axe guy himself had pulled his hood down, revealing both that he was an orc and that he had somehow gotten a large cut across his face that he was just letting bleed freely. Two others sat on the side of the caravan, which had been knocked over and was lodged into the ground on the side of the road. They weren’t wearing their cloaks, which they had taken off to hold against their bleeding wounds. The horses seemed to have calmed down and their reins were either tied purposefully to a tree or tangled in its branches.

“I think our best bet is to take the horses and ride to the nearest town,” the magic user sighed, motioning towards the horses, “I can’t heal shit right now, and we’re all nearly dead.” 

“And leave behind all the loot? After all we just went through?” axe guy demanded. 

“There’s only two horses, the caravan’s broken, and we’re all injured, how do you expect to get all four of us to town with all that stuff?”

Axe guy shrugged. “...Levitate?”

The magic user inhaled deeply. “I don’t have a fucking wand! I don’t know how to levitate without my wand! Will you listen? Idiot!”

“There’s your wand.” Lup startled as one of the injured bandits on the caravan pointed directly at her. Fuck. All of the other bandits spun to face her, and instinctively she stepped back and raised her wand.

The magic user cursed. The axe orc raised his weapon. 

She forced herself into a more confident stance. “I killed those two guys back there,” she told them. None of the bandits looked surprised, or even moved. “Like, just an fyi dudes. You should prooobably just take your injured asses up the road and let me return all stolen merch to their rightful owners.”

There was a tense moment of silence. “I don’t believe you,” axe guy said.

Lup, hoping she knew what she was doing, reached into the well of fire inside her. It spread through her body again and down her arm, into the wand. It hit the axe guy right in the face, sending him sprawling onto the road, screaming.

Oops. She meant that to be a warning shot. And for it to hit the ground, not a person.

The magic user turned tail and ran immediately. The two on the toppled caravan grabbed one another and ran after him, more slowly but just as panicked. It took the axe guy some time and a lot more screaming for him to get the fire on his face under control enough to jump to his feet. All four bandits disappeared down the distance.

Lup stared after them. Well, that happened. 

Lowering her wand, she started walking over to the caravan. Boxes had fallen out onto the grass, spilling their contents of food and clothing. A glance inside revealed scattered stacks of papers, more clothes, and a few broken trinkets. She stepped through the mess, careful not to break anything further. The caravan was on its side, so the left wall was the floor and the right wall was the ceiling. On the upwards wall there was a map, similar to hers but with more towns marked, and the split in the side caused by the axe. Basically everything else had fallen onto the downwards wall, which seemed to originally have a simple bed built into it. As Lup scanned the scattered paper and other miscellaneous supplies, her eyes were drawn to a sleek, black case. 

Kneeling, she reached for it. It seemed to be mostly undamaged, thanks to the durable outer casing, but one of the clasps had hit something hard and broken off. She flicked the other one and open and pulled the top of the case up. Inside, perfectly safe, was a violin. It looked valuable, for as much as she knew about these things. It was shiny and well-taken care of. Aside from the violin, there was also another stack of papers (she realized all of this was sheet music, mostly blank) that might have helped it stay undamaged in the fall. She closed the case again as best she could and left the caravan.

Okay, now what? The obvious answer was find a way to fix the caravan and go back to the guy she’d left on the side of the road. The problem came with fixing it. From a quick glance as she circled the caravan, the wheels didn’t seem to be too damaged. They just weren’t on the road, where wheels are supposed to be. 

Lup stopped on the left side, so the roof was facing her. She stepped back, braced herself, and threw her shoulder into it. It shifted a little, but didn’t budge. Yeah, she didn’t know why she thought that would work. The caravan was incredibly small compared to most that she’d seen and been in in her life, but she still probably couldn’t lift it on her own. (especially cause she wasn’t at her physically strongest. At some point during that walk down the road, the adrenaline had worn off and her body was painfully reminding her that she had been starving before all this.)

She gave up on that and circled the wagon again. She was pretty tall, but the wagon was wider, so on its side she couldn’t easily grab the top and try to pull it down into the right position. She tried it anyway, but on her tiptoes she couldn’t get any purchase to move it. All she did was scratch herself on a split piece of wood in the frame and swear loudly into the night.

The horses stomped and snorted a little way off. Lup wondered if they were laughing at her.

Maybe she would have to leave the caravan for now. She’d chased off the bandits, so it should be... well, not safe but not quite as bad an idea to leave it behind. The guy she’d left behind was probably a bigger worry.

Lup stepped carefully back into the broken caravan and scooped up the violin. She should return it in case the caravan is totally gone when she got back. She also scooped up most of the food that hadn’t gotten covered in dirt, dumping it all in a bag she found among the wreckage. Except two apples, one of which she bit into right now. She’d at least tried to save him from bandits, she could consider it a protection fee.

It took her several minutes to figure out how exactly the reins were tangled into the branches and which one she’d just detangled. “Sorry, guys. You’ve been through a fucking shitshow today, huh? Here, you deserve this.” She patted the now free horse and held out the apple. The horse snorted at her, but took the apple. While it was distracted, she clumsily climbed up onto its back. It didn’t have a saddle and she’d never really rode a horse as much as she could remember, but it didn’t seem to mind her that much. Okay, better than walking. 

-

 

Lup was surprised to see a figure standing on the edge of the road. Well, not that surprised. Mostly just relieved. If he wasn’t awake by now he was probably dead.

She was a lot louder riding on the horse, so the stranger looked up only a second after she saw him. He made a weird motion, like he was about to run away, but stopped himself. Lup pulled the reins in a way she hoped would make the horse turn. It ended up stopping. That worked too.

She slipped off the back of the horse, reins in hand. “Are you okay?” she asked.

As she got closer, she could see the man better. His clothes were torn up from the attack and being tossed on the side of the road, but they were mostly intact. She hadn’t noticed before because she was too freaked out by the bandits and all, but he was wearing ridiculous bard garb. Wow. He had recovered his fallen and was holding it instead of wearing it, wringing it in his hands. His black curly hair fell over some of his face, matting with the blood of his head wound, and stopped just below his ears, but still didn’t hide their points. He was a half-elf, and a young one. He wasn’t a baby but he was young. He looked like he’d probably just hit 18 a couple minutes ago.

“I think? Did you see a- a caravan and some guys in cloaks?”

Lup nodded and handed him the reins. “Yep, I chased them off. The caravan’s kinda wrecked, though.”

The half-elf frowned in confusion, taking the reins. “Is this my horse? What happened?”

“Yep. I was nearby and I saw them attack you so I chased em off. It was cool as shit, I promise. But uh, the carvan’s turned over a couple minutes down the road. Couldn’t do much about that.”

He opened and closed his mouth a few times. “O-okay. I’m not really sure what to do now. Do I know you’re not one of the guys that attacked me?”

Lup rolled her eyes and pointed at the motionless bodies of the two bandit’s she’d set on fire earlier. “Why would I kill them and get you your stuff back?”

“Oh, so you killed them. I was wondering about that.” He continued wringing his hat worriedly. “Thanks? I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about being on the road like this. I knew it was dangerous but I didn’t really expect to be jumped by bandits before I hit the first town.”

“Yeah, it’s kinda fucked up out here,” Lup shrugged. “I’ve been on the road since I was a kid. People fuck you over whenever they can. Why the fuck are you out here alone, anyway?”

His eyes lit up a little, despite the harshness of what she’d just said. “Oh, I’m a bard. Travelling bard, now. I didn’t really think about bringing anyone with me, I just went. I wanted to play for everyone, not just, like, the five people in my hometown who weren’t too busy to listen.”

Oh, right. Lup took the violin case off her back and held it out for him. “You play violin, then?”

As soon as they fell on the case, his eyes lit up and he quickly snatched the case from her hands. “Oh thank gods, it’s still here. I was really scared the bandits took it. This thing is, like, my lifeblood.”

“Your lifeblood should be protecting yourself, my guy. You were like this close to being a dead body on the side of the road. That’s important, if you don’t have anyone to watch your back, you have to know how to watch your own back.”

He looked up from his violin. “You mean like, learn to fight? I’m not really a fighting guy. I just wanna play music.” 

Lup shrugged. “That’s just how it is out here. Get a bodyguard, then, I guess. Don’t travel alone at night though, holy shit.”

He frowned. “Why are you travelling alone? Or do you have, like, a caravan down the road?” His eyes flicked to the bag of food she had taken from his caravan. “Is that my bag?”

Lup looked kinda sheepishly at the bag too. “Well, yeah, sorry but I didn’t have any food or anything to carry stuff in. But don’t worry about me, strings, like I said I’ve been travelling on my own for awhile. I’m just gonna walk to the next town.”

The half-elf raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder, further down the dark road. “You… know the next town is like half a day’s drive, right?”

She swore loudly and kicked the ground. Her toe connected unpleasantly with a rock in the road and she swore again, stumbling back. The sudden movement reminded her that she really wasn’t in the best condition right now and she had to blink quickly to stop her vision from swimming. Getting that close to starvation hadn’t done her any favors.

When she finished her small outburst, she looked back over to see the bard staring at her and obviously considering something. When she looked his way again, he said, “You chased off those bandits, and you know how to live on the road, can I just, I don’t know, hire you to be my bodyguard? I don’t have a lot of money but I probably will when I actually start playing for people.”

She was about to open her mouth and explain why she was really fine on her own and it wasn’t a great idea to trust strangers you met in the middle of the night with your life, but she stopped. Just an hour or so ago she’d been worried about bumps in the dark and where to go next, but now the situation had changed completely. She had a wand and clearly had some magical ability (had she always had that? It was all a little fuzzy. Was she good at magic? Did she learn it at some point?), and someone with the ability to raise money without the chance of getting arrested in her debt. He probably knew surrounding towns better than her. He had transportation and food. 

Some part of her told her to be suspicious, she shouldn’t just agree to this so easily, shouldn’t just expose her back to someone she doesn’t know won’t stab it yet. It was like a little voice in her head, nagging at her to just take his food and go it alone, she’d done all her morals demanded. A voice telling her not to trust anyone but herself. But, she had a feeling she was a good judge of character. This guy really seemed like an inexperienced boy who needed to learn how to survive on his own, not a double-crosser. He  _ seemed _ okay.

“Alright, fine, at least to the next town.” she nodded at him and he nodded back. “Also, hi, I’m Lup. I was going to make some joke about how you normally know people’s names before trusting them with your life but honestly, nah.”

He shrugged. “Oh well. I’m Johann.”

“Okay Johann, do bards know any healing spells? Cause if I try to help you flip that caravan in this condition I might actually die.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr is https://unluckyrose.tumblr.com/


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops it's been awhile, huh? yikes

The next few months were surprisingly easy, considering how uneasy Lup had been about this entire situation. When she was young she didn't usually stay with one caravan for very long, but this setup was pretty convenient. She didn’t know a lot about the towns they were going to, but Johann seemed to. He plotted out their travels and ran it by Lup so she could point out incredibly stupid ideas (“Listen, maaaybe it wouldn’t be the  _ greatest _ idea to park the caravan in some back alley. I’m not super in the mood to be killed and robbed in my sleep? We can defend it but there's no good exits. Always gotta have at least one other direction to run.”) and decide defensive points in case they were robbed. They weren’t attacked by bandits again, nothing like those cloak guys at all. Lup had almost had her pocket picked in Rockport, but grabbing that idiot’s wrist and fixing them with a glare was all the defense she needed in that situation.

Money was still hard to come by, but not enough that Lup ever had to take a part-time job. If Johann could find a good and populated place to play his violin, the tips came flooding in. He was really an amazing bard and everyone who heard him play knew it. People would flock to him wherever he sat and began to run the bow across the strings, entranced and amazed, not leaving until either they ran out of coins or glanced at a pocket watch and ran off while cursing. (Lup cried the first time she’d heard him play, and would never admit it as long as she lived- not that she even had anyone to tell about it. It wasn’t even a sad song, but it was so  _ beautiful _ and something about it tugged at her chest.) Of course, some people's lack of generosity outweighed the the quality of the music, so some days they didn’t exactly have enough for food. At least they never had to waste money on an inn. The caravan was enough, as long they weren’t kicked out and forced to park it far from the town.

A lot of this defensive stuff and surviving on the streets felt instinctual to Lup. It was all learned on her own from a childhood of experiencing these strategies first hand. It became easy for her, but magic was way less so.

Lup snapped her book shut in frustration, glaring at a piece of cloth. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the caravan, a book in her lap and an old, ripped cloak she’d found laying on the floor in front of her. The rip was only an inch wide, but she could have sworn it’d gotten even bigger.

“Something wrong?” Johann asked. He was sitting just outside the open door, playing around with his violin and using the floor of the caravan as a table to write sheet music on. They had been stopped in this town for a few days, but it had been hard to find a big enough crowd for him to play for. Being in the same town for awhile did give Lup opportunity to check some wizarding books out at the library, though, and she fully intended to return them.

“Magic is hard,” Lup sighed. “Like, I know fire. I’m really fucking good at that fire thing. But the smaller stuff? Mending and Mage Hand and all that jazz? I can’t fucking do it. This cloak doesn’t look Mended in the fucking slightest. What’s its problem?”

“Isn’t that stuff supposed to be learned, and practiced?” Johann asked, not looking up from his music sheet. “Like, that’s how wizards work? You seem pretty smart, you’ll get it eventually.”

Was she smart? She remembered her aunt calling her smart once, but it was a long time ago and she couldn’t really recall the context. A case of amnesia or whatever wouldn’t make her dumb, wouldn’t make it that hard for her to pick up stuff that should come to her naturally. “That’s not it,” she rubbed her hand over her face. “I can… I can do magic, right? I can feel that power in me. A fucking lot of magic, for some reason. I know it’s there, but I don’t know how to shape it. Is it supposed to be like that? A shitton of power that you just can’t shape the right way?”

Johann shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not a wizard. That’s a sorcerer thing maybe?”

“I don’t know, it doesn’t say shit in these books. Maybe I am a sorcerer? I never really knew anyone in my family, except my aunt. I don’t think this runs in our blood. Maybe this is just a normal wizard thing and I’m just bad at self-teaching.” Lup groaned and fell back onto the floor. “It’s hard to learn things without a teacher, or like, someone else learning with you. All I’ve got is like, some dumb spellbooks to go off of.”

“Stay in your comfort zone,” Johann suggested.

“What?”

“Like, when you’re learning something, you’re not supposed to immediately work on new stuff.” He shoved the sheet music aside so he could climb up and sit in the doorway of the caravan. “When I first started playing, I learned a few lines of a song from a travelling bard that came through. Then I didn’t, like, jump to learning masterpieces. I finished learning how to play that song, one line at a time. Then I moved on to other stuff. So like, don't stress over the stuff you can't get, skip it and come back to it later.”

Lup raised an eyebrow at him, even though she couldn’t really see him from this angle. “Weird but helpful, sorta.”

“I’m just trying to be encouraging here, I relate things to music.”

“No, I get it. Thanks.”

“If you can do fire, learn how to do fire first, then work on the other stuff once you’ve got that,” Johann plucked at his violin. “Just try not to burn the caravan, I guess.”

“Hey,” Lup rolled onto her side so she could see him. “once I start to get a hang of this wizard stuff, you think you can teach me some bard stuff? I always wanted to learn the violin.”

Johann shrugged. “Maybe, sure. But like, learn your magic stuff first.” He smiled a little, a pretty rare sight. “I am paying you to protect us, not steal my glory,” he joked. It was always hard to tell when he was joking; his voice was very deep and deadpan. But Lup appreciated the encouragement.

So yeah, a few months went by with no real issue. Lup tried to learn magic, picking up all the books she could with her wages that weren’t spent on food. The issue with ‘learning how to fire’, is that things did indeed go wrong often. Luckily, things didn’t tend to go much more wrong than a desk or a book catching on fire. She did set the caravan on fire once, but like, only the curtains so it was all good and _ not _ a reason for anyone to glare at her for the rest of the day after that, seriously she said she was sorry.

By the end of the second month of travelling with Johann, she’d managed to shape the ‘random burst of fire’ she’d been doing into a more easily controlled Fire Bolt spell. While she was at it, she’d found an entry in a book that provided a pretty good step-by-step on how to cast Dancing Lights, so she had that under her belt real quick. Figuring this shit out was going frustratingly slow- she wanted to be  _ stronger _ than this, she should be stronger than this- but she was making progress at least.

It was after the next few months that things got less surprisingly easy. And honestly, she saw it coming. How often were things easy for that long?

They’d decided to stop in Sunpeak. It was one of those towns that wasn’t quite a city, but big enough that they weren’t the only visitors travelling through. It was a very dry and hot town, near the edge of a desert and full of dying gardens and stone buildings. There were occasional trees but they were few and far apart with thin branches and small leaves that were seriously unhelpful in providing cover from the sun. They had to ride through the town before they found a good place to park the caravan, and while they did Johann sat in the open door and played, letting his music follow them. They arrived in town at sundown so there weren’t many people around, but a few stopped from closing up their shops or walking home and turned to listen as they passed. At one point, they passed an elf woman carrying a very tired-looking child. She waved them down and Lup slowed the caravan so she could run up and hand Johann a gold piece. The child gave them a toothy grin as they kept riding past, and Lup returned it.

By the time they had found a place to park the caravan, the sky was dark and little pinpricks of stars were shining above. They had parked in a lot full of other drifters and their caravans, from the wandering homeless to other travelling performers. It was near the edge of town and a bit crowded, but they were oddly friendly when Lup and Johann pulled up. The lot was mostly a big dirt patch that was unkempt but well-trodden. It was just as empty of plant life as the rest of the town; nothing but rocks and at least five other caravans.

It took Johann less than ten seconds after parking to wander over to the shared campfire in the center of the lot with his violin. Lup only stayed back to make sure the caravan was locked up as best it could be before joining him.

The others were unbelievably friendly. A cheerful tabaxi offered Lup a roasted fish immediately, which she denied because accepting food from strangers you just met isn’t really smart in any situation. Except, like, in a cafeteria or some place that serves food, she supposed. She played a card game with another bard, this one a human man with a guitar, but eventually it devolved into him showing her obvious sleight-of-hand magic tricks. (she pretended to be amazed anyway. It wasn’t like she was paying him). A white dragonborn sharpened his axe in a threatening manner for most of the time she was there, but as soon as she asked where he got it his manner changed completely and he began to tell an exciting and cheerful story about stealing it off of a cruel noble.

It was almost midnight when Lup realized how tired she was, and by then most of the others had drifted away to their own caravans. The only ones left by the fire were her, Johann, and the world’s most boring halfling wizard. He was explaining to her, in a very condescending manner, what the spell Witch Bolt did and fidgeting with an expensive-looking amulet he wore. It was the shiniest thing he seemed to own and she considered asking him where he got it, but decided against saying anything that would encourage him to keep speaking and instead tuned him out and stared at the fire. Lup was really very tired, so it took her a few moments to realize the fire had completely died. The light that was allowing her to see the stupid halfling’s face wasn’t coming from it.

She turned around and jumped. There was a little orb of light floating just behind her. On instinct she crawled backwards away from it, but it bobbed in the air and followed. She glared at it and she kept crawling backward away, until she passed Johann. The bard raised an eyebrow at her, not sparing the light more than a glance as it clung to him instead. “Uh, are you, okay?”

“What the fuck is with the stalker light?” she asked, nodding at the orb as it began to circle Johann’s head. He waved it away and it went back to drifting just beside him.

“Oh, you didn’t know?” the halfling said from the other side of the fire. Lup internally sighed as she turned back to him. “You see sweetie, this town doesn’t have streetlights. Instead, they have little floating balls of light that followed those who walk around at night. It’s a very advanced modified version of Dancing Lights.”

Lup glared at him, then looked back to the light. “Why? I mean, rad, but why?”

“Security, I think,” Johann explained, “Also because it makes it easier to see, I guess. I’ve been here with my mom before. The lights follow you at night so you never have dark patches to get attacked in or something like that.”

Not to be out-explained, the halfling jumped back in. “They cling to people’s heat signatures. That’s the heat that most people produce, by the way. If you give off heat, the light follows after you until you go into a building.”

Lup had to admire the spellwork, and she’d made a mental note to ask how it was done if she ever figured out who did it. Not this guy, though.

“I think I’m done for the night, I’m gonna go meditate.” She stood and shoved her hands in her pockets.

In the corner of the caravan was a small area with a folded up bedroll, where Lup settled down to meditate. Johann’s caravan was small and had only one bed, but they’d never bothered finding a way to fit in a second one. If she was exhausted enough she had to get a full eight hours, Johann could take a shift staying up and watching the caravan for a night. Pretty much every other time, she was good just meditating wherever. That’s what being an elf was all about, baby.

She was meditating for an hour when Johann came in and collapsed on the bed. It only took her a minute to get back into her trance after that, relaxing into her rest. 

Another hour later, a soft footstep outside pulled her from her trance. Her ear twitched and one eye opened. She waited. Silence. It was still dark outside, and from a glance out the window none of the orbs of light were hanging around the caravan.

She’d write it off as imagination if she was at all good at ignoring her instincts. Moving as quietly as she could, she stood and tiptoed across the caravan. Careful not to knock anything over or wake Johann, she looked out the window.

Wait. She couldn’t see anything? She’d expected to at least see soft outlines in the darkness or maybe a light orb floating around, but even with her darkvision she couldn’t see a thing. There was nothing behind the window but pitch black.

Lup slipped over to the door and cracked it open as much as she could without making a noise. There weren’t any light orbs around at all; it looked like they must have all drifted back into town proper and away from the caravan lot, since no one was outside. Everything was quiet and empty from what she could see. The fire was long dead and there weren’t even any lights on inside the other caravans. She could actually see around the lot, so her darkvision  _ was _ working, but there really didn’t seem to immediately be anything out here.

She carefully peeked her head around the door to look around the caravan and see what was blocking the window. Nope, no one seemed to be hiding there and there wasn’t any cloth tacked over the window or anything. All that was blocking the window was a thick-trunked tree that the caravan was leaning against.

Wait, tree?

She hopped off the caravan to get a better look. Yep, that sure was a tree. It was in front of the small window in the side of their caravan, blocking the view outside. They hadn’t parked next to a tree. In fact, there weren’t any trees near the lot, especially not a big, healthy one like this. It didn’t even look native to this town. She wouldn’t have just not noticed it, would she?

Her ear twitched. Flipping around, she fumbled for her wand. Someone was standing directly behind her, one hand up in her direction. They were humanoid and a little taller than her, but their hands were clawed and their face was pointed. It was hard to make out any other features because of the large dark cloak they wore, and despite her darkvision it wasn’t that easy to see details without any light at all. The stranger had a large bag strapped over their shoulder, almost bursting. A glint caught her eyes, and she saw the halfling’s amulet stuffed into an outside pocket.

“Robbing homeless people? Really, dude?” she said.

They didn’t move. Their eyes didn’t even flicker to her wand. Their hand thrust forward, and suddenly Lup was flying backwards into the tree. The wind was knocked out of her as she hit the bark with a hard thud. Shaking her head to recover, she tried to charge the person. A sudden, sharp pain in her ankles stopped her and she almost pitched forward. Her other arm caught the side of the caravan, barely stopping her from faceplanting into the dirt.

She hadn’t been wearing any sort of boots when she came outside (she really should have grabbed them but her instincts that told her to investigate the noise weren’t helpful enough to remind her she might want shoes if she had to fight something, _ thanks _ ,) just some socks that were now soaked in blood. Twisted around her ankles were thick, thorny vines, sprouting from the dry ground and stabbing into her skin like needles. She struggled, using the arm on the caravan to keep her balance, but each movement just seemed to dig the thorns in deeper and she had to bite her lip in pain. Without thinking, she reached down and grabbed at one with her other hand, desperately trying to rip it away. The thorns pierced her hand as soon as they made contact and she inhaled sharply as more blood rolled down her palm. “What the fuck!”

The robber turned, gliding in the direction of the inner town. Lup gripped her wand in her uninjured hand and pointed it at them again. Mimicking all her practice, she reached for the fire inside herself, feeling the power grow and travel down her arm as she struggled to shape it into a controlled Fire Bolt at the stranger’s back. They yelped and flipped around, extending their hand at Lup again.

More vines shot from the ground, these ones going for her arm. She whipped out of the way just in time, letting the plants fall harmlessly to the ground but causing the thorns to dig deeper into her feet at the shift in balance. With a sharp tug at her leg, the vines encasing her left foot snapped and she was able to reach forward and grab a hold of the edge of the robber’s cloak. She was kind of in an awkward position, barely standing with one foot caught and putting a lot of her weight onto the hand gripping the robber’s cloak. Trying not to look as pathetic as this felt, she pointed her wand directly at their pointed face.

Their hand reached up to grip her wand hand and twisted it away with unexpected strength. In shock, she lost her balance and thumped to the ground. They didn’t let go of her wrist, claws digging into her skin like the thorns, so she hung defenselessly from them. For just a moment, from this angle, she could see that under their cloak they were wearing some kind of sash, but their cloak fell closed again when she lost her grip. Her wand dropped from her hand and fell softly to the dirt.

As she struggled to free herself, she realized the thorny vines had grabbed her other ankle again. The more she kicked, the tighter they got, and more and more vines sprung from the ground and held her. 

Yeah, she didn’t have much else to do except shout, “FUCK!” as loudly as she could.

The robber dropped her to the ground, stooping to pick up the wand. It wasn’t really anything special, just the most basic arcane focus. The bandit she’d taken it from hadn’t spent much on it. Still, it was all she had and she couldn’t help but growl when the robber examined it calmly and then pocketed it.

Then, Lup heard something behind her. A quiet creak of the caravan door. Before either her or the robber could react, one long note played from the doorway of the caravan. A wave of force blew over the lot, hitting the robber and knocking them back into the empty firepit. Lup was laying on the ground when it hit so she didn’t fly very far, but the force did rip most of the vines from her. 

Brushing the rest of the vines off her, she pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked back to the caravan. The door was wide open now and Johann stood there, violin in hand, silent now. His eyes were wide as he watched the robber try to recover. 

His spell had not only knocked away the robber, but also pushed three of the other caravans away. One had rammed into a tree that certainly hadn’t been there before, another had lifted two wheels off the ground then fallen back so sharply the wheels had broken, and the nearest had rolled out of the lot and into a nearby building. Confused and outraged shouting was beginning to come from the other caravans.

The robber recovered, brushing the ash off their cloak and looking around at the damage. Without sparing either of them another glance, they turned, laid a hand on one of the new trees, and vanished.

“We should probably get the fuck out of here,” Lup suggested. Johann nodded quickly, hopping off the caravan to help her to her feet. It hurt like hell to stand and some thorns were still stuck in her skin, but with his help she managed to get onto the back of the caravan before the other inhabitants of the lot realized what had happened. Johann left his violin on his bed, got in the driver’s seat, and they drove.

As they made their escape, Lup looked around at the surrounding town. It wasn’t only the caravan lot that was hit, from the looks of it. Sunpeak had been a dry town with little nature and a lot of dirt, but now as the orbs of light floated around they illuminated nothing but green. Out of place trees and other plant life were everywhere. Entire buildings had been choked by ivy, people banging against the doors from inside, screaming for help as others tried to rip the plants away with their bare hands. One building looked like the plants had eaten away the spaces between the bricks and caused it to collapse. Light orbs surrounded it as crowds of people pulled the injured from the wreckage. Several other buildings had collapsed under the weight of moss, ivy, and vines, some of which were just people’s homes. She even saw a couple people wrapped or tied up in thin plants with little white flowers, screaming in pain whenever someone tried to help them.

She should stay and help, but what could she do? Who would she even help first? It seemed like everyone they passed was heavily injured, wrapped in plants, or screaming for help under piles of rubble and plant matter. In just a few hours, this town had been completely overgrown and destroyed. What could even do this?

Once they reached the edge of town, the plantlife had faded back to normalcy. The road was mostly untouched and the horses had no problem galloping away from the scene of the overgrown town. Once there wasn’t any more destruction to observe, Lup hauled herself back into the caravan and swung the door closed. She didn’t bother trying to stand, just heaved herself up onto the bed and dug around for the first aid kit. 

It hurt like hell and took her around ten minutes to get all the thorns out, but eventually she’d gotten her ankles wrapped up with minimal cursing and blood on the bed. She still wouldn’t risk standing, but from where she sat she could reach over and pull open the window on the front of the caravan that revealed the driver’s seat. It wasn’t the kind where the seat was built into the caravan’s front so you could go back and forth without leaving, but there was a window so she could talk to Johann while he drove.

“Oh, yeah, hi,” he jumped when the window opened, as if she’d forgotten she was there. The half-elf was clutching the reins and staring straight ahead. The sun was starting to come up by now and pink was crawling across the sky. “What happened back there, Lup?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

“I don’t have a fucking clue, man,” she answered. “I heard someone outside, when I went to check it out there were some surprise trees and I just got fucked up by these vines.”

“Who were you fighting?”

“They were robbing the caravans. They had that’s halfling’s amulet, at least.” Lup ran her eyes over all the items flung around their tiny caravan. They didn’t have much, but from a glance it didn’t look like anything was missing. 

“Did you get a, a look at them or anything?” Johann glanced back at her, “I didn’t get a good look.”

Lup shook her head. “They had some kind of cloak. They weren’t human, probably. They had claws. There wasn’t a light orb following them, for some reason, and I was really busy trying not to get my ass handed to me.” She gently patted the violin, still on the bed next to her. “Thanks, by the way. That was some quick thinking, thug.”

“No problem,” he said, as though he hadn’t actually heard her. There was a short pause, about five entire seconds of tense silence, and then he voiced the thought that was haunting Lup. “That wasn’t, normal, right? They  _ destroyed _ that town. There was like, no nature there, then it completely took over. Something really fucked that town up. That’s not something you usually run into when travelling, right? That was a big deal?”

“That was a huge fucking deal, my man,” Lup nodded absently, turning to look back in the direction of Sunpeak, even though there wasn’t a window there and she wouldn’t be able to see it anymore anyway. “That was… a serious fucking bad guy. That wasn’t just some bandits taking advantage of homeless people, that was someone with serious mojo wrecking a town just to steal everyone’s valuables.”

Johann leaned around the caravan to look behind them, then tugged the reins so the horses slowed down slightly. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Lup stared at her feet. All wrapped up in bandages, halfway up her shin. She thought of all those people who were worse off, trapped under fallen buildings or wrapped in toxic plants. What _ could _ do something like that? “Me either,” she responded after nearly a minute of silence. “We should go back.”

“Right now?” Johann asked, startled.

“No, absolutely fucking not. They might think it was us, with that thunderwave you used back there, and I so don’t want to deal with fucking authorities. And I think It miiight not be the best idea to run into that plant guy again, since he handed my ass to me on a silver platter about twenty minutes ago. Also, he took my wand.” Lup winced as she flung her legs up onto the bed so she could lay down properly. “But like hell am I gonna leave that alone. We gotta go back there some day, figure out what happened. Something about it just… makes me really uneasy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to my friends for insisting i actually continue writing instead of wallowing in my own lack of confidence
> 
> my tumblr is unluckyrose.tumblr.com


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very tired and depressed enjoy this update and please tell me if there are any spelling errors i missed

As the sixth month mark came, Lup found herself not really questioning the holes in her memory as much. Sure, they still bothered her when she thought about them too hard, but it wasn’t like they were all that important anymore. She had been wandering around on her own as usual, got caught in something bad in a cave, a whack on the head made her forget the details, and now she’s travelling again. No big, she was just picking herself up and moving along. 

Mostly, her attention had been refocused onto learning as much magic as she could. As soon as they’d pulled up into a new town, Lup had taken her savings and run to the nearest magic shop. She bought a new wand, nothing fancy, and some good instructional evocation spellbooks. If she was good at fire, she was going to lean heavy into fire. Johann wasn’t much help in magic theory, and most places for wizards to learn were big expensive schools, so Lup was working off of books alone here.

Over the next few months, Lup got down a few more cantrips, got off at least one good Thunderwave, and had a basic idea of Magic Missile. It was almost exactly six months after the whole thing with the cave happened that Johann circled a town on the map on the wall of the caravan.

“Neverwinter?” she asked.

“Yeah. You okay with that?”

“I don’t know what it is, so no clue dude.”

Johann had long gotten over any shock he may have had about Lup not knowing basic things about the world. “It’s this big city. The biggest, actually. They get a lot of people travelling through and stuff, I don’t know how bad that is for security or whatever.”

Lup thought about it. “Not great? There’s big advantages and big disadvantages, for sure. No one’ll notice us, which is great for if we’re breaking the law.”

“Which we won’t be, probably, unless you really feel like doing a murder I guess.”

“And there's too many people to keep an eye on,” Lup continued, “but there's also tons of witnesses if someone tries to kill us for no reason.” Lup tapped her fingers on her thigh nervously, weighing the options. She’d never had a great time in cities.

“It’s nearby, and I think playing for a large crowd would help with money, and getting recognized as a bard I guess. But like, if it's dangerous I think the best choice for my career would be not dying.”

Lup shook her head. Cities were fine, whatever, she could fight off anyone who tried to mess with them. “Nah, there’s probably more upsides overall. Let’s go for it.”

As they drove, Johann told her more about Neverwinter. Lup couldn’t help but get excited at the idea of wrestling arenas and professional weapon trainers, but it barely dampened her anxiety. There was always too much going on in cities, she couldn’t keep an eye on it all, everyone was going somewhere, no one willing to help a kid but everyone willing to call the authorities on a kid pickpocket who was on her own and just needed enough money to get a ride out of the city, dammit. 

That anxiety in her chest just grew more and more as the city finally came into view. It was bigger and louder than she expected. Sure, it was the middle of the day, but why were there people every direction she looked? Just walking beside the caravan as Johann drove, Lup’s head whipped around to try and follow everything so much she was afraid she’d get whiplash.

“I’ve been here before and they have a few caravan lots, but only on the edge of the city,” Johann was explaining, “I don’t think they mind people parking small caravans in the centre though- woah, are you okay, Lup?”

“Five by five,” she said, spinning on her heel to look back at him. The maneuver actually caused her to stop moving for a second and she had to jog to get back within hearing distance as the caravan continued to drive.

“You seem kinda jumpy?”

“Just taking in the sights, my man. It’s been a long time since I’ve been anywhere this loud.” Lup tried to rein in her nervousness a bit as they continued down the brick road towards what must be town centre. It probably wasn’t actual town centre anymore, with all the new stores and other buildings dragging most of the population to other places, but it had some smaller stores and a lot of benches full of people just hanging out. Judging by their clothes and the coffee shop she could see on the other side of the square, this was probably a big hipster hangout. So, the best place for a bard to set up.

The other shops in the centre were mostly uninteresting. An expensive jewelry shop that seriously can’t get much business here, an empty building that looked like it probably held one of those stores that’s only open around a holiday, and a chain general store that she didn’t really need anything out of. However, she did spot a small, wooden building with a big glass window in the front and a hanging sign that announced it was a magic shop. Oh hell yeah, she’d been saving up her share of the gold for awhile, and she could probably get some good fucking quality books in a big city like this. It wouldn’t hurt to hit up all the magic shops she could while she was here. “You cool setting up and playing on your own?” she asked, glancing back at Johann as he pulled the caravan to a stop and hopped out of the driver’s seat.

“Oh no, I definitely need help to sit down and play a violin,” he replied, sarcastically. Lup shrugged. It wasn’t like anyone would just attack him while he was playing, most of her bodyguard job is keeping an eye out at night and when they were moving between towns. But she didn’t trust cities, and she felt better knowing he could at least defend himself in a pinch while he had his violin on him.

Leaving Johann to his work, Lup pushed open the door to the magic shop. It wasn’t really a hole-in-the-wall, but it wasn’t quite fancy. The floor was nice hardwood and the shelves were waist-height in rows, with more important items on some shelves that curved around in a semicircle behind the counter at the back. Through the large window in the front, she could see the town centre, though it was a bad angle to see Johann from here.

At the counter was a gnome man with a long beard, too absorbed in a big tome to notice her. That was fine. She wandered between the rows, observing the wares. They weren’t interesting at all, really. There was a lot of stuff that didn’t even look magical, like various necklaces with no label or obvious effect, empty glass orbs, an empty bottle, and a brightly colored feather. Then there were ones that were kinda magic, but mostly lame, like a little black rock that was warm to the touch and and an infinitely glowing ball. The latter kinda reminded her of Sunpeak, though, so she set it down and moved on. Closer to the far wall was a shelf filled with various herbs and glass bottles, all brewing stuff. That wasn’t really stuff she knew a lot about, but if they had any books on it she’d maybe pick it up once she got a hang of evocation. What caught her attention over there was several jars filled with formaldehyde, dead animals and body parts suspended in the liquid. She didn’t really know why they were there, but they were pretty cool to be honest. She also considered buying these, but she didn’t have a use for them and they’d probably break all over her stuff when they travelled.

“Hey, thug,” she said, turning to the gnome and waving to get his attention. He looked up at her, glaring over his glasses as if she was unreasonable wanting to speak to the only employee here. “Do you have any instructional spellbooks?”

He nodded silently and pushed away from the counter. As he jumped off his chair, he disappeared for a moment before reappearing with an entire stack of tomes. “These are beginner’s spellbooks for every school,” he explained, “Mostly cantrips and first level spells, but they include detailed instructions and explanation of magical theory.”

“Rad.” Lup strode over and grabbed the first off the pile. It had ‘Little Apprentice’s First 50 Transmutation Spells’ written across the cover with a doodle of a young elf in oversized wizard’s robes. “Condescending, nice,” she rolled her eyes and pushed it aside, looking for the volume on Evocation. Once she found it, she flipped through it. Though the pictures looked like they were drawn by a child and some of the explanations used small words, the spells she read seemed pretty comprehensive and explained the magic behind it well. 

“Great, how much?” She set the book down and slide it across the counter. In the minute or two she’d taken to look through it, the gnome had gone back to his own book and glared at being interrupted again.

“Fifty gold pieces.”

“Oh, fuck,” Lup’s hand went to her pouch of gold. She didn’t have _ that _ much spending money. She made a lot for a relatively easy bodyguarding job thanks to how much everyone instantly loved Johann’s music (and well, no matter how good he is not everyone will give up their money), but fifty was a lot of gold to spend in one place. 

The gnome stared at her unsympathetically. She frowned back. This guy didn’t seem like someone that was easy to barter with, if she was any judge of character. Still, she was going to try. It was a dumb kids’ book, it shouldn’t be fifty gold. 

However, just as she opened her mouth, Johann’s voice hit her ears. It was distant, and laced with magic, as if travelling on a wind no one but her could hear. “I need help,” his Message spell said.

She dropped the book and spun on her heel, out of the magic shop before she could even fully register what she was doing. The door slammed so loud it would have made her jump if she wasn’t so distracted. She was only a few paces away from Johann being in view, she was so close, how could something have happened already?

Lup whipped out her wand, holding it tightly and observing the situation. It didn’t look as immediately dangerous as she’d feared; no one had a weapon unsheathed. Johann was standing, clutching his violin at his side, and staring down a very tall half-orc woman who was clutching a harp. Beside her was what seemed to be a human man wearing a cloak with the hood up and his arms crossed. She couldn’t see his face, but judging by his tense posture and the way his hand kept twitching towards the half-orc, he looked more uncomfortable than threatening. The woman, though, was definitely threatening. 

Lup raced up to Johann’s side, hand out in a ‘step back’ motion to the half-orc woman. She didn’t back down, but did move about an inch back at the arrival of backup. “Woah, babes, it sounds like you’re threatening my friend here,” Lup said, probably sounding much calmer than she felt.

The half-orc waved her arm that wasn’t holding her harp at Johann. “This fuckin’  _ hack _ is stealing my audience!”

“You mean the audience that was here long before you showed up?” Johann retorted, clutching his violin tightly. 

“I always get to play here!” The half-orc shouted. The man standing beside her put a hand on her arm, but she ignored it. “Like hell ‘m I about to let some outsider take away my hard-earned audience!”

“You always play here?” Lup asked, glancing around the town centre, “Full offense but how much can a bard make playing in one spot in one city forever?”

The half-orc huffed. “That’s not what I meant! This spot’s ours!” The man grabbed her arm again.

“Uh, what she- what she does mean,” The man spoke up, “is this spot is hers whenever she wants it. It’s an, unspoken rule of sorts.”

Lup tensed, gripping her wand. “That’s not very friendly to new and upcoming artists, my guys. Your names aren’t on the fuckin’ sidewalk.”

The half-orc pulled her arm back and Lup raised her wand, but the man tugged the half-orc away before she could throw a punch. He whispered something to her, then turned back to Lup and Johann. “Um, you can stay here, then. But we’ll be seeing you.”

Lup glared after their backs as they left, the half-orc grumbling something she couldn’t hear. Once they were gone, she turned back to Johann. He was frowning, watching them as well. “What happened?” Lup asked.

Johann loosened his death grip on his violin slightly and glanced around the town centre. “They showed up out of nowhere and interrupted my song, shouting about how I was stealing their spot. I was afraid it’d get violent. At least they drew a crowd, I guess.”

Indeed, a large amount of rubberneckers were gathered, waiting to see if a fight would break out. Some were wandering away now that the possibility of violence was gone, but a lot were still milling around to see what else would happen. Johann sighed, sat back down on a box, and fitted his violin under his chin. As he began to play, Lup sat cross-legged on the sidewalk next to him and kept a hand on her wand, watching each person who approached with gold as if they would attack any second.

This wasn’t a disaster. They weren’t in huge danger. If they came back, she could take them. This wasn’t proof that cities were all bad and they were going to die. All she could do was her job as bodyguard and stick by Johann until the danger was over. Maybe she should ask for some extra money and go buy that book tomorrow. That’d help her be better at not getting killed by competitive bards.

“Lup?” Johann nudged her with his leg, making her jump. “You’re hyperventilating.”

“Oh, shit,” Lup quickly took a deep breath and tried to slow her heart. 

“I can cast Calm Emotions?” he suggested.

“You have a fucking spell that can just calm you down instantly? What would that be, a magic song to get you high?” Lup shook her head, trying not to outwardly glare at an approaching man who tossed a few silver into Johann’s violin case. “Whatever, we just got threatened, I probably shouldn’t be calm anyway.”

-

 

Lup wasn’t sleeping that night. Or meditating. She sat, awake, outside the caravan practicing her spells. Mostly, she practiced any cantrips she could think of or find in any of the books she had. If she wasn’t going to sleep she wouldn’t get her spell slots back, and she might need them. 

Eventually, her shoulders began to sag and her eyelids got heavy. It got very hard for her to concentrate on keeping a flame charged in her wand. Deciding it was best not to accidentally burn down any of the nearby shops, she gave up with practicing her spells and pulled herself up onto the floor of the caravan and leaned against the doorway, eyes fixed on the pink crawling across the sky.

The next thing she knew, soft and calming music was drifting into her ears. Her neck and back were sore and she kept her eyes closed for another few minutes, taking the excuse to not move. Maybe if she stayed very still, she would just fall back asleep.

Asleep? Oh, right, she hadn’t wanted to do that. Lup blinked her eyes open, wincing as sun jabbed her senses. She quickly put her hand over her eyes, wincing again at finally moving after so long in an awkward position. She was still leaned against the doorway, but slightly moved so she wasn’t blocking the path in and out. There was now a pillow pinned between her and the wall, but it didn’t do much to prevent the soreness in her neck. 

Lup groaned and rolled her shoulders, making her neck crack. Squinting through the suddenly way too bright sunlight, she glanced over at Johann. He was sitting on a box outside the caravan, playing his violin just like he had yesterday. “My whole fucking body is pain,” she complained.

“I mean, that happens when you sleep sitting up,” Johann replied, the asshole’s voice betraying no sympathy.

“Whyyyy did you let me sleep like that?” Lup hopped out of the caravan and stretched, back cracking like five times.

“Do I look like a person who can pick a sleeping person up and move them?” he raised an eyebrow at her. 

“Fair, I guess.” Lup shrugged, and quick on a quick hunt through their supplies for breakfast. She spent that day doing practically all she did last night, practice spells and keep an eye on Johann and the caravan. Despite her anxiety over their weird encounter and the busy city, nothing had happened by the time the sun was sinking behind the tall buildings and the crowds on the streets grew rowdier.

“Weren’t  you going to visit the wrestling arena and all that?” Johann asked, eventually.

Lup looked up from her book, light spell in hand as the sunlight began to disappear. “Yeah, probably. Eventually. Can’t miss that shit. I’ll figure out when there’s a show happening before we leave, at least.”

Johann frowned. He’d stopped playing by now and was just lounging on a blanket they’d set out on the sidewalk. “You seem pretty worried and out of it since we got here. Do you think those guys are really a danger?”

“Probably not that bad? We can take em,” Lup answered distractedly, flipping the page of her book. “They could be an issue, like all it takes is one misstep and a fuckin rat could take you out no matter how good you are, so who knows maybe we’ll be killed by a pissy bard maybe not. Can’t watch everything in a place like this.”

“Are you sure you think this city is safe?” the bard sat up. “I mean, I told you if you didn’t think it was safe we could skip it and go to the next small town.”

Lup shook her head. “Nah, listen, maybe I’m a little paranoid about this? I think I am. I dunno. It’s not an issue, really, I used to stay in big cities by myself all the time and I never died. I wasn’t worried then, and I only had myself, so I’m sure two semi-capable spellcasters will be fine playing some fucking rad tunes in the capital for a few days.”

Johann didn’t say anything after that, but Lup felt like he wasn’t very convinced. She wasn’t very convinced, to be honest. Well, she had been honest, she was being paranoid and while there was danger it didn’t really warrant the panic. Based on her childhood and just what she’d been through, she really should be able to get through this fine. She didn’t know why she had so much anxiety over this and it was frustrating as all hell.

So, as she settled down for a fitful mediation after the sun had fully disappeared, she promised herself she’d go visit some of the sights in Neverwinter. At least she and Johann should go find a nice place for breakfast, since they had extra money. It felt like so long since she’d had a nice, fancy, fully cooked meal. In fact, she hadn’t cooked in so long. 

So, as she mediated, she focused on the idea of delicious and wonderfully cooked food. As she did, her anxiety melted away, and she finally felt relaxed enough to stop worrying for just a few hours. 

  
  


At first, the smell of smoke didn’t pull her out of her meditation. She thought it was part of her deep thoughts of food and cooking. However, when her even breathing was interrupted with hacking coughs, her eyes flew open and her hand reached for her wand.

The first thing she saw was that the door was wide open. Their supplies had been spread across the floor, all their bags and boxes emptied haphazardly and kicked around, and bright red and yellow flames were licking the far wall.

Their caravan was on fire. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was gonna be longer but i split it cause i was too tired to keep editing and also i love suffering and cliffhangers
> 
> i love comments, and my tumblr is unluckyrose.tumblr.com


	5. Chapter 5

Heart beating like an off-tempo drum, Lup rolled across the floor towards the small bed. Johann was fast asleep, and she didn’t stop to check if he was breathing. Grabbing him by the arm, Lup covered her face with her robe, stood up, and dragged the both of them towards the door. She couldn’t see a damn thing, but thankfully the caravan wasn’t huge. Only two strides over the scattered supplies on the floor and her foot managed to stop right before the drop at the edge of the doorway.

Lup hopped off the edge, feet connecting with the sidewalk hard with the extra weight of Johann. Speaking of, as soon as they were out of the caravan he began flailing, finally awake. She dropped him on the box where he had sat to play his violin and turned back to see the condition of the caravan.

It wasn’t good. The flames had consumed the whole roof and left wall, and weren’t planning on stopping. All of the wood she could see on the top half was blackened. Smoke billowed out of the window and door, making it hard to see inside. As she watched, the roof collapsed in and embers and wood shards exploded out for three feet.

For a long time, she just stared. Her head was pounding and it felt like her ears were filled with cotton. She was totally frozen, standing in front of the ruins of all she’d managed to build up over the past six months. Her blood was running cold and she couldn't move her limbs. She could barely blink. The flames flickered and overtook what of the caravan that wasn’t destroyed yet.

Water sloshed over the flames, dousing them quickly. The crackling stopped and for a moment, the spell was broken. Lup shook out her arms and turned to see a small crowd of concerned onlookers. At the front was a few emergency responders, holding out staves and wands. They had probably summoned the water. Wouldn’t it have been convenient if she had known that spell? If she knew any fucking magic at all besides fire?

“It looks like they’re all out,” one of the emergency responders said, stepping closer with his wand held out. He approached the caravan and peeked his head through the door. “Flames are gone, but the floor is burned pretty bad. It’s probably not safe to climb in. Or, on. The roof’s caved in.” He turned to Lup and Johann. “Do you guys know what happened?”

Lup shook her head, like that could get the cotton out of her ears and let her focus on something other than the dread. “I woke up and the caravan was on fire. We didn’t have anything to set a fire, not even matches, we were out.”

“Did you have any protective wards set up?” another responder asked, ignoring the advice of the first and hopping up into the caravan.

Lup shook her head again. She didn’t even know how. All she knew how to do was attack things with basic fire. Protective magicks were probably the smart thing to learn, but she hadn’t even thought of it. How had she not learned any protective magicks by now?

“It looks like it might have started on this right wall over here,” they pointed to the blackest and most burnt corner, though Lup couldn’t really see much of what they were looking at.

Johann stood suddenly and pushed Lup aside so he could get closer to the wreck of a caravan. “Do you see a violin in there?”

The responder looked around the burnt interior for a few tense minutes, while Lup clenched her fists so hard her fingernails dug into her palms.  Finally they came up to the door again, and shook their head sadly.

Johann dropped back down onto the box, deflated. “Fuck. Fucking hell.”

All the energy drained from Lup’s body and she found herself sinking down to sit on the ground next to Johann. The responders exchanged glances. “There’s an inn not too far,” one said, consolingly. “Just down that road, then take a right.”

“Yeah,” Lup said, not sure she’d be able to stand and follow those directions any time soon. Time passed, and the crowd slowly began to disperse. The sun wasn’t even in the sky by the time the two were completely alone.

 

-

 

It turns out that Johann and Lup have very different responses to tragedy. When they got to the inn, they paid for two single rooms, and dumped everything they’d managed to salvage from the caravan into Johann’s. While he locked himself in this room immediately after that, Lup didn’t even check out her room before heading right back down into the bar area on the first floor.

Not to get drunk, she really didn’t like not having control of herself during times like this (not to mention it was about eight in the morning when she got to the inn). She just needed to be surrounded with people. Someone to talk to about things like the weather, laugh about whatever gossip they had, or even take their money from them at pool. Being social was something she needed to concentrate enough on that she could distract herself from thinking about the fact her good luck of the last six months had dried up in a literal fire and she was at a loss on how to start again.

So, she ordered a water and sat herself in front of the bartender. They were a curly-haired halfling who began chatting about what a nice summer they were having and how their niece wanted to be a wizard. The conversation was perfectly mindless, and Lup began to feel lighter almost instantly. This good mood hung around for a few hours, perpetuated as she travelled around the bar and spoke to the various people coming in for breakfast or coming down from their rooms. 

She ended up spending all day wandering around the bar, playing pool with any sucker who dared challenge her, and adamantly not thinking. It was around six when a wood elf man wearing a large cloak with the hood down approached her, grabbing a pool cue and challenging her to a game. He seemed bored more than anything, but stupid and overconfident. He must’ve seen her fake-lose a game a little earlier. (of course, she used that fake-lose her opponent into upping the bet for a rematch, after which she won with the skills she’d been hiding.) Lup was pretty good at hustling pool, but oddly enough it was making it harder for her to not think about her life and problems. It just seemed like as she stumbled around and pretended to be an overconfident drunk or a nervous newbie, she always turned to the side as if expecting someone to be there and back up her lies. After the third time she’d automatically turned to face blank space, she’d considered bothering Johann and asking him to come support her in this. But no, he was grieving in his own way and she was really at a loss on how to comfort him right now.

She agreed to the challenge, made her bet, and won the first game pretty quickly. She was trying to hustle him, faking being awful at the game and purposefully missing shots and sinking the cueball a few times, but all the faked bad skills in the world won’t help the opponent when he stupidly sinks the 8 ball early. A laugh threatens to break free as she watched him groan over his mistake and demand a rematch. They doubled their bets and set up to play again.

The game lasted a little bit longer, and this time Lup let him win. It was honestly hard because this guy wasn’t great. He was obviously kinda drunk and probably not the best when he was sober. He celebrated his victory by pumping his fist and throwing more money onto the edge of the table, demanding one more round, since they were tied. Lup agreed, trying to assess how many more games she could get out of him, and decided now was probably the get time to drop the act and take her winnings.

When she won this third game, she reached for her winnings only for the wood elf to slam his hand down to stop her. “No, one more game!” he begged. 

She leaned back uncomfortably, but didn’t take her hand off the money. “No way, thug, I’m done for tonight. I’m takin’ my winnings and buying a hella nice new pair of shoes.”

“No!” he actually whined. Then, as if something just occurred to him, he reached into his cloak and slammed something heavy down onto the edge of the table. Lup was startled, unable to react before she saw strange, glossy, golden eyes staring at her. He’d just produced a golden statue of a cat from his cloak. It was life-size, and looked pretty damn heavy. If that thing was real gold, why was he carrying it around? Why did he take it to a bar?

If that thing was real, it was probably worth more than this inn and bar combo itself.

“Please,” he begged, “One more game, for the cat. You don’t have to put any more money in, just the money that’s already on the table, plus the cat. Come ooon…”

Lup’s hand flexed over the coins as she hesitated. “Where’d you even get something like that?”

“It was… a prize. From work,” he muttered, as if saying it really quietly wouldn’t make Lup suspicious. But she was suspicious. She grabbed one of the statue’s paws, digging a sharp fingernail into the metal. When she pulled away, there was a small dent. From what she knew about metals, it seemed it was at least coated in gold, which meant it was very expensive even if it wasn’t solid gold. At the very least it was some impressive art.

“Tell ya what, babe,” she put a bit of derision into her tone, “I’m not playing another game, cause at this point, you might be hustling me.” He opened his mouth as if to deny it, but she ignored him, “I have a deal for you. I’ll give you back your original money, before you lost it all to yours truly, and you give me that cat as a prize for being so generous and not letting you walk out of here empty handed, hmm?”

The wood elf hesitated. Then he sighed, ears drooping, and scooped up his half of the gold. He vanished into the crowd before Lup could think about what had just happened. That must mean he really was an idiot instead of hustling her, if he was trading over this pretty valuable cat for just the money he had in the first place. Still, she wasn’t going to question it too much. She swept her gold back into her bag and picked up the cat statue.

The cat was unsettling up close. It had an uncanny look to it that sent a shiver down her spine. The eyes were wide and gazing into the distance with enough detail that she could clearly see the pupils, the individual hairs were visible to the point where she felt almost like she could count them, and the muscles were realistically bunched like it was about to jump away. A thought occurred to her, as simple and obvious thought. It looked too realistic, almost like a real cat that had just been transmuted into gold. 

The moment the thought crossed her mind, she could feel a headache brewing. A feeling like deja vu took over her thoughts, like she knew there was a connection to be made there, like she knew something or remembered something about this, but she just couldn’t reach it. Her head started to tingle like static and she forced herself to look away from the cat, shoving it into her bag. 

Almost as soon as she looked up, she saw something else familiar, but in a very different way. She had no trouble identifying where she knew the man in the cloak from as she watched him quietly entered the bar. She couldn’t see his face, but it was clearly the same man in a cloak from the other day, who had accompanied the angry half-orc who had tried to drive them from their spot. He walked in the same slightly nervous manner, the cloak was the same color, and his body shape was the same. He even still had his hood up,  _ inside _ , and was weaving his way around the tables right to the halfling bartender.

No one was paying attention to her anymore, so she had no trouble slipping away and disappearing into the crowd before he noticed her. She weaved through the tables until she was at the edge of the room, creeping behind a group of strangers having breakfast. Tiptoeing carefully, she was able to come right up next to the bar and just within hearing distance without being seen or heard.

“Hey, I’m looking for two friends who might be staying here?” he asked the bartender. “They’re a half-elf guy and elf lady? Uh, the elf is taller than me? The half-elf has curly hair?”

The bartender nodded. “Yeah, I know ‘em. Why?”

“Well, can you just, point me in their direction?”

The bartender narrowed their eyes suspiciously. “They’re staying in rooms 5 and 6. Don’t cause a commotion in my inn.”

“Yes. Whatever.” He nodded at them, then speedwalked towards the staircase. Quietly, Lup followed. She stayed just close enough to keep him view, and climbed the staircase by only stepping close to the walls so they didn’t creak and give her away. When she reached the landing at the top of the staircase, she leaned around the wall to see him knocking on the door to room 5.

A few thuds and some shuffling emanated from the room. “Yeah, I’m comin’,” Johann’s voice was muffled through the wall. The figure shifted slightly, as if he was leaning from one foot to another. His hands fidgeted under his cloak, more like he was very nervous than he was holding a weapon of any kind. Still, Lup gripped her wand and quietly stepped closer while staying out of view.

The door opened, revealing half of Johann’s face. He about as disheveled as you would expect from someone who had just spent the whole day awake in bed. His hair covered his face and his hat was nowhere to be found. His eyes were unfocused and only half open at first, but once he saw who it was they widened. “Woah, wait, aren’t you that guy from yesterday?”

“Yes, we have to talk about something,” the guy said. He raised one arm to hold the door open. “Can I come in?”

“You sure can!” Lup said loudly, making both men jump. She put her hands on the guy’s back and shoved him inside, only giving Johann a second to jump out of the way. With another shove, she’d pinned him to the wall with his arm twisted behind him and her wand at his back. “Johann, shut the door. But be ready to run if you have to.”

“Woah, woah, woah!” the man shouted. “I’m just here to talk! I promise! Fuck, that hurts.”

“You know this is suspicious as fuck, right, dude?” Lup raised an eyebrow, even though he was facing the wall and couldn’t see her. “Oh yeah, totally gonna just trust a guy in a cloak who tracks us down right after our caravan burned down.”

“...Yeah, okay, I didn’t say you’re not… a little justified with this response,” the man struggled with his arms, trying to turn around. Lup didn’t let up, keeping him pinned. “But I need your help. Just hear me out, I have something important.”

Lup glanced back at Johann, who shrugged, looking at a loss. She looked back at the back of the man’s head. “What do you mean you have something important?”

“A gift? To show good faith?” His free arm shifted behind his cloak, pulling out a large bag that had been strapped to his back. He tossed it behind him and it landed in front of Johann. The bard looked at Lup, and she nodded for him to open it. He knelt down and opened the flap, revealing… nothing that Lup had expected. There wasn’t a weapon or explosive or some curse or anything, but a fancy violin case. A familiar one.

“What the fuck.” Before she could do anything, Johann’s hand shot out and he grabbed the case. He set it on the bed and threw open the clasps. Inside was his violin. Pristine and undamaged as ever. Johann gasped quietly.

The man yelped as Lup slammed him into the wall again. “Explain!”

“Stop, you’re gonna crack my glasses,” he reached up with his free hand to straighten glasses that he apparently had, taking the chance to pull his hood back and try to look behind him. Lup sighed and stepped back, still clutching her wand and internally reciting all the spells she knew, but allowing him to move.

The stranger turned around and faced her, hood down and hands free. He certainly was human, and did have glasses, as well as short brown hair. His cloak was open in the front, revealing that he was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans under it, of all things. “My name is Barry, Barry Bluejeans, I'm a double agent and I need your help to kick some criminal ass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's the boyy
> 
> yodel in my general direction from the comments or at unluckyrose.tumblr.com


	6. Chapter 6

“Okay, just some feedback on your pitch so far,” Lup said slowly, “If you need help from someone, do none of what you’ve just done.”

Barry was holding his hands up in a peace gesture now. “Yeah, I can see that, that makes sense. But does the gift help at all?”

“No, actually it makes you way more suspicious, cause now I’m wondering how you got it.”

“I took it from your caravan before it was burned.”

“Fuck man, do you take classes on how to look overly suspicious?” 

“No, I teach classes on how to look suspicious actually. I got a degree in being suspicious, but if you get a degree you just end up teaching being suspicious,” he snarked. Lup huffed with a stifled snicker and let him step away from the wall. He nodded at a small two-chair table in the room and sat in one of the chairs. Lup threw herself into the other, keeping her wand drawn. Johann stayed sitting on the nearby bed, examining his violin closely for damages, but kept his ears perked in their direction. “So, I… have a lot to explain, huh?”

“So get to it, man.” Lup tapped her fingers on the table. She fought the urge to use her free hand to twist her hair; the nervous tick would be way too obvious and if this guy was dangerous she really didn’t want him to know how rattled she was.

Barry didn’t  _ look _ dangerous. He looked tired as hell. He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. “Okay, I work for… a bad guy. Not really working for him though. There’s this gang of criminals in Neverwinter that got power pretty recently. I think they got big cause of their leader getting some, uh, item? I don’t really know what it is, I don’t actually know a lot. But I’m working as a double-agent kinda, to take down this guy and get whatever magic item he stole away from him.”

After a second of silence, Lup raised an eyebrow. She tried to exchange a glance with Johann, but he still wasn’t looking up. “And? That’s it? Who do you actually work for? What does this have to do with us? What happened to our caravan?”

“I mean, the gang fucking burned down your caravan, I thought that was the kinda obvious part,” Barry shrugged.

“Well yeah! That was one of those questions that you know the answer to but you ask cause it's gonna lead to more answers!”

“Oh. Well, I don't really work for anyone in particular? It's gonna sound crazy, but, I don't know much about why I'm here or what I'm doing? Besides taking this guy down? I was told that he's got some item that's making him really rich and he's using it for evil, I guess, and I was just supposed to take him down. Get the item away from him. Somehow. So, I got in and I'm kind of a bodyguard for hire. I'm just supposed to follow around any members or people that are under the gangs protection. That's why I was with Lash, that half-orc bard you got into a shouting match with. She's part of the gang, so she’s guaranteed a spot to play there, and when you stepped in on that territory…” he made an explosion noise and motioned his hands like flames. Lup pinned her wand between her fingers and crossed her arms.

“Okay, we accidentally pissed off the wrong person and got our stuff dusted, it happens, and I still don't see why you're coming to us for help. We're already enemies of this guy, aren't we?”

“Well not exactly,” Barry looked hopeful and excited now, “cause this guy doesn't actually care about the money. He has all he could ever want. What he wants is fear and loyalty. So, it's not unheard of for someone in your position to appeal to him for some money to get repairs or buy new stuff and get out of town. Lesson learned, you're in debt to him now, and you get to go away. You guys are really convenient for this plan, actually, since you aren’t from here and just wanna keep going. Wouldn’t be too strange to beg for forgiveness so you can blow outta town.”

“That really doesn't sound like something I would do, four-eyes,” Lup raised her eyebrow again. “Especially uh, that debt thing? Red flags popping up all over.”

“Well you won't actually get in debt to him, cause we're gonna kill him.” he said this matter-of-factly, as if he was saying they needed to run a quick errand. 

This time Johann did look up and exchange a bewildered glance with Lup. “I haven't agreed to anything yet, let alone murder, so that 'we’ shit can go sit in a corner for a bit.” Lup waved a hand as if shooing the word away. 

Barry shrugged. “Okay, but, if you agree to help, the plan would just be that you two go in to appeal to him with me. It would make sense for me to be there cause Lash is busy playing for most of the week so I'm the only one free who was there. You apologize to me and the gang and ask for money to get out of town. When he takes out the item to make some money for you, I tackle him and you guys get the item away.”

“And he's going to have no other security or something?”

“Not during the meeting, I’ll probably be enough. And once you have the item? No one's gonna dare come near you,” Barry said very seriously. Lup tried not to start tapping her fingers nervously again.

“What… exactly is that thing?”

He shifted a little uncomfortably. His eyes went a little unfocused as he said, “Like I said, I don't really know? I’m sure we’ll know it when we see cause it's... scary. Really scary. He's…” He paused, “There are these statues? In his hideout? They're made of solid gold. But… they're not statues, they're people. People who betrayed him. Examples. It's like…”

“Oh fucking shit he's a king midas.” Lup pushed back from the table, almost falling over in realization. She violently flung open her bag and started digging around, flinging her belongings out on the floor until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out the gold statue she'd won just about a half an hour earlier, still just as unsettling and realistic. It clinked when she set it on the table, heavy and solid, almost heavier with the realization.

Barry frowned at it. “Oh, that's… fucked up. But yeah, that's one of his.”

“Fuck!!” she slammed her fist on the table. Johann jumped, startled, accidentally hitting the strings of his violin and making a note ring through the room.

“What?”

“This is a fucking cat!” she snapped, “A real cat that was alive and now it's not! I can't sell this shit now, I know it's some poor murdered cat corpse! Fuck!”

There was a short pause of silence after the outburst, then Barry snickered. “I think, uh, there's a bit more to worry about than selling that thing.”

She did mean her overreaction to be a goof, and while she was pleased that he laughed at it and considered it in a point in this guy’s favor, she did find herself actually a little upset. Her stupid conscience wouldn't let her sell some murdered cat, so they were stuck in this city without a caravan or supplies and barely enough gold to pay for another night in the inn. She hated to admit it, but if Barry was telling the truth, this plan did seem like a good way to take out a bad guy and get enough money to get the hell out of this city.

Also, this statue thing? Really fucked up. Some little voice in her head told her leave it, it was the problem of whoever was stupid enough to join up with this crime lord asshole, it wasn't her problem. That voice didn’t seem like hers. But her conscience was a much louder voice, telling her if she had a chance to get rid of a big bad and save more people from this cat's fate, she had to take it. It was too fucked up, of course she had to do something.

And she just couldn't ignore the odd feeling this whole situation was giving her. Like the earlier realization about the cat being transmuted, as soon as she tried to think too hard about this mysterious king midas-type item her mind just hit a wall of static. It was like connections were impossible to make even though there was something about this whole thing she should know, and it was bothering the hell out of her.

She glanced up at Barry. Behind his glasses, his eyes had a strange quality to them. They were looking at her and calculating, trying to figure out what her choice would be. She got strange impressions from him, like seeing a cute snake and realizing it’s venomous. Someone who was much more than they seemed. But by gods, she wanted to trust him. It wouldn’t be the first bad decision she’s made.

Lup leaned back in her chair again. “Okay, alright, I agree.”

Barry blinked in surprise. “You'll help? You'll do this plan?”

“Yeah I'll do the damn plan. If this is a trap and you're going to kill me I'll haunt the shit out of you, okay?”

“That's a deal!”

  
  


Barry left soon after that, promising to come back with a more detailed plan and some maps the next day. He also promised to be better at realizing when he's being followed because if anyone suspected they were working together the whole thing could be a bust and they could all die. And, in his words, that wouldn't be great.

“You good?” Lup asked, knocking on the table in front of her, making Johann look up. The bard had been oddly quiet through the whole thing, sitting cross-legged on the inn bed with his violin in his lap. She had expected him to have something to say about the conversation that had just happened, but he looked a little out of it.

“Yeah, I mean I just had all my valuables ripped away from me then spent all day in a depression coma then was just told ‘not actually here’s your violin back’, so I’m not fantastic. It’s a bit of a fucking rollercoaster but I’ve got my violin so no big I guess,” snapped out of his stupor, he swung out of the bed and started pacing around, digging through his stuff that had gotten slightly scattered around the inn room since that morning.

“I get that, my man.” Lup frowned, glancing at the door that Barry had just left through. “Hey, how do you feel about all this gang shit, by the way? I kinda agreed to that without your input.”

“I noticed.” Johann straightened as he found his hat from where he'd thrown it when he arrived. “But like, it's the right thing to do? Can't let someone go around setting fire to things and turning cats to gold. Not something I expected to be drafted into when I went on tour.”

“You don't have to, it's probably better for just me and Barry to go,” Lup glanced at the frozen cat, then quickly looked away. It's eyes were even creepier now that she knew what it was. “I'm the bodyguard and he's the crazy guy.”

“Wouldn't it be better for me to come, since I'm the one that upset the orc lady?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Probably. We could figure something out, say I'm just there to talk for you or whatever.”

He shook his head. “No, I'll come. Gotta stop the bad guys and whatever. And I'm not defenseless, now I've got my violin back.”

“If you're sure, I wouldn't mind the backup. It's not my fault if you die,” Lup stood up from her chair and stretched. Maybe she should go back down to the bar and try to hustle pool some more. Or maybe she should just go meditate in her room, since she paid for it and everything.

Johann laughed quietly. “I'm pretty sure it still would be, you're my bodyguard.”

“But if you die, you won't be able to tell anyone it was my fault, so who's the real winner here?” She swept towards the door reaching out to open it. “See you tomorrow, fantasy Beethoven.”

  
  


The next morning found the three of them back in Johann's room, looking over a crude map Barry had spread over the table. It seemed to just be a bunch of lines and Xs drawn on crumpled paper. Lup raised an eyebrow when she saw it, but before she could comment Barry said, “There aren't any official maps of the place, I did what I could!”

“I don't know what you're talking about, this is art,” Johann said, mock-seriously. He held a hand to his chin like he was admiring it.

Lup scratched at the lines with a fingernail. “Is this in crayons? It looks like you did this with crayons.”

“I think this is supposed to be a snake, over here,” Johann pointed at a squiggly line near the top of the map.

“Okay, assholes, it's not Mock Barry Time,” the human sighed desperately.

“Uh no, it _ is _ mocking time and I have more,” Lup pointed at the long black cloak he still wore, “That cloak doesn't work for you. Wear something brighter,”

Barry frowned and tugged at the front of his cloak. “I don't have something brighter. Also, like, I need to blend in with the rest of the gang and not stand out? Everyone wears these.”

“The fucking second this is over we should get some nice clothes.”

“If we pull this off, we'll have enough money for all the nice clothes we could want.” He paused. “And like, the bad guys will be gone. That’s supposed to be the main plus.” Barry flattened the paper with his hands. “Okay, this is a map-”

“Debatable,” Lup whispered.

Barry rubbed the bags under his eyes. “This is a map of the Gorgon house. It's a mansion in the north section of the city, and where the leader lives. He lives there alone so most of the mansion is just a place for various criminals to, uh, chill I guess.”

“Gorgon?” Lup raised an eyebrow.

Barry nodded. “Yeah, the leader is a guy named Gill Gorgon. Yeah it's a stupid name. It's not a noble family or anything, he just bought the place with all his evil money. Kind of, a, headquarters.”

Johann leaned back in his chair. “Isn't that suspicious? That this guy came from nowhere and suddenly buys a mansion when he isn't a noble?”

“It is, but no one can actually send the law after him. He's paid off just about everyone and anyone who's met him. People are too scared of him to do anything.” Barry awkwardly waved a hand at the cat statue that was still sitting on the table. “Cause, uh, pissing him off has consequences.”

The cat's dead eyes almost seemed to stare at Lup, accusingly. She reached out and spun it so it faced the wall instead. “So, how do we get a meeting with this thing?”

“I've already arranged it,” Barry explained, “I told him that I'd seen you guys and you were interested in apologizing. I, might have implied you were looking to join up with his group and helping him expand power to other towns, because you were very impressed with and scared.”

Lup scoffed and Johann asked, “We aren't, right?” 

“Impressed and scared? Hell no,” Lup said. She was only lying a little bit.

“No, I mean we're not really joining up? I don't think I can keep up a double agent thing for long.”

Barry shook his head. “No, we only gotta keep this up for the meeting. Lash, that half-orc you pissed off? Won't be there cause I knew she'd be busy, so it should just be the three of us and Gill. He'll be meeting us in the sitting room which, he uh, removed most of the furniture from. I think people kept getting drunk on there and breaking things so now he's got like two chairs and he conducts his shady business in there.”

As he spoke he was tapping his finger on a square drawn near the back of the map. “It's near the back of the house so a lot of people will see you go through. But don't worry; since I told him you wanted to apologize he sent me to fetch you, so it won't be suspicious for me to lead you through the mansion.”

“What are these diagonal lines?” Lup asked, pointing at the three smaller, diagonal lines poking out from the square.

“Those are the exits from the sitting room. Once we get in, we gotta find a way to block this one,” he pointed at the one in the front of the square that must be a double door entrance, “and this one,” he pointed at a smaller one near the back, “and escape through this one. It's on the third floor so uh, jumping isn't ideal.”

Lup steepled her fingers under her chin and nodded. “What'll happen when we meet the guy?”

“Preferably, he buys the story, you apologize, you suggest taking his business to Goldcliff and ask for money to get there, and he brings out the item to do that for you. As soon as you see it, we grab it and beat him up.”

“Just, beat him up?”

“Well, yeah? Do you need me to choreograph the fight for you? He won't have his scary item if we get it away from him and if we block the doors right it'll be three on one, it's simple. Once he's out, we run away with the item and when people realize he's harmless now, the gang breaks up.”

“Well that last part doesn't sound that exciting,” Lup started slowly, “if shit goes according to plan we just steal the thing and blow this popsicle stand? We get out and hope they fall apart?”

“Well I'm pretty sure they will, I've been working as a double agent and most of them just wanna leave but are too afraid of him,” Barry adjusted his glasses and looked very seriously at Lup. “But also? Shits not gonna go according to plan.”

Johann looked up sharply. “What?”

“This plan's really crazy- this plan's really stupid and crazy. Shits probably gonna hit the fan no matter what, so, this won't be boring at least.”

Lup slapped a hand down on the table. “Sign me up, boy! Sounds like my kind of heist!”

“You already signed up. I already brought you into this, you can't be in this any harder.”

“Watch me, nerd,” Lup leaned back, twirling her wand around in her hand. “When do we leave?”

“Uh,” Barry shrugged awkwardly. “Soon? Right now? I'm supposed to just be fetching you to come meet Gorgon, so they'll be expecting us. Also, that's about all the briefing I had for you. I've got the blocking the doors and everything handled. I literally just need you guys to be convincing and steal the item. Also not die, if you wanna do that too.”

Johann ran a hand through his curly hair. “Oh. I wasn't expecting, like, right now. Can I take a shower or something first? I've just been laying in this room for like twenty-four hours.”

“Fair enough. That's fair, you don't want to smell bad in front of a powerful magical criminal.” Barry started gathering up his shitty map, “Tell you what, you guys get ready and meet me downstairs in ten minutes.”

Lup watched him as he slipped out the door, pulling his hood up to hide his face again. She couldn't help but smile. This entire thing, the danger, the stakes, the bad guys, the planning and lies, was making her itch with excitement. It took all her self control not to fucking laugh maniacally and sprint to punch this guy in the face right now.

“You seem… cheerful,” Johann said, snapping her out of her thoughts. 

“Hell yeah, why not? Beating up bad guys, causing chaos, this is some infinite ice cream levels of dream come true.”

“Is it? Weren't you just… since we got to Neverwinter you've been pretty anxious and even before that you were big on safety. Now you're like, hell yeah danger?”

Lup frowned. He was right. She was kinda worried about her and Johann getting killed by this Gorgon guy, of course she was, but she was more excited. She leaned forward onto the table, facing Johann. “I… listen, it's like drowning. You see some water, but not fun water. Like some cold ass water in a frozen lake. It's got this thin fucking ice filled with cracks over it. And guess what, you gotta cross that bitch. In that situation, the water isn't fun, and you're pretty fucking scared of it. But if you find a nice lake with clean water and no ice, you just might wanna cannonball into that bad boy. I'm less scared cause I'm in my element here.”

“I feel like that could've been explained without the metaphor but okay,” Johann didn't look convinced, which was weird because she wasn't lying. “You just preach a lot about not trusting people and now you're following this Barry guy into this. You're just…” he pauses, seemingly trying to come up with the right words. “Uncharacteristically confident and comfortable with this really suspicious stranger and scary situation. And you keep _saying_ you don't trust Barry, but you guys keep sassing each other like you're old friends or whatever.” 

Lup opened her mouth to respond, but she didn't have anything. She ended up just shrugging. Johann rolled his eyes and said something about needing to take his shower before they run out of time and disappeared from the room.

He was right. She was happier and more confident being pointed at a bad guy and given a crazy plan than she'd been in months of calm travel. Even though Barry was some suspicious double agent who could be leading them into a trap, she really wanted this to be a real chance to fight the good fight. Maybe all her worries were about danger coming to her when she felt so off-balance, but now she could go to the danger and get the upper hand. And sure, Barry was pretty suspicious and not telling them everything, but he seemed cool. She just felt like she could trust him.

She had to admit it felt great to be going into a big heist with someone backing her up.

Whatever, she didn’t have to examine her actions. She pushed herself out of her chair and headed for the door, deciding to go wait for Johann with Barry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bippity boppity bing  
> i have no confidence in my own writing
> 
> hope you enjoyed this chapter i call it 'some nerds sass each other and make bad plans'  
> contact me at unluckyrose.tumblr.com


	7. Chapter 7

The Gorgon Mansion really was stupidly big. It looked like it had once been a very fancy noble home, but it certainly wasn’t that anymore. Obvious criminals covered the place, from hooded figures sitting in broken windows to a group of high-energy goblins smashing glass statues on the front lawn (Lup hid a shiver and ignored the connection she instantly made to the cat) to some very buff-looking thugs standing in the doorway, it looked like a place where no noble would be caught dead. 

It honestly looked like a fun place to Lup, who nodded cheerfully at a group of drunk thugs in all black who were playing cards on the steps. Barry walked ahead of her, nodding nervously at a hooded figure who called a greeting, then he whispered to the buff figures in the doorway. Johann was between Lup and Barry, trying hard not the make eye contact with anyone and clutching his violin case.

“You good man?” Lup whispered to him.

“No, I’m fine,” he muttered sarcastically, “I feel totally comfortable entering a mansion full of criminals.”

She elbowed him. “You said you wanted to come, dude. Buck up and pretend you belong here.”

“I did wanna come, I’m just thinking about how Barry said things would go wrong and thinking how I should’ve written up a will beforehand.”

“You should just leave everything you own to me,” She joked.

“Sure, if you don’t die too, you get the like three things I still own.”

They emerged into a sort of entrance hall that looked more like a seedy tavern. Most of the windows were covered with dark cloth that might just be cloaks taped over the glass, casting shadows over the groups of laughing criminals. Most were playing games of some sort, drinking, or leaning in close and having hushed conversations. At the end of the room was a huge staircase, which led to the second floor and a balcony that wrapped around the entire entrance hall. One man was hanging upside-down from the balcony railing, seemingly asleep. 

They stopped for a moment in the center of the room as Barry looked around, probably trying to find someone, and Lup watched the nearest table. A tall, brown tabaxi woman with her hood down was sitting on the table instead of in a chair and balancing a large knife on the tip of her paw, and another three people were sitting in chairs and laughing at her.

“You're gonna drop it and slice open your hand, betting on it now,” a firbolg who looked a bit too big for their chair said.

“Oh shit we're betting?” a lizardfolk that looked a bit like a chameleon slapped her hand down on the table. “5 gold says-”

The knife clattered onto the table before she could finish his sentence. “Aw fuck, you jostled me!” the tabaxi accused. The scene barely stirred the last occupant of the table, a lanky person with long, purple hair, who seemed to be half-asleep and using their arms as a pillow.

Lup hid a snicker as she watched the scene. Johann was eyeing the knife nervously. Barry was shifting from foot to foot, looking like he was trying to decide something. Finally, he turned to the other two and said, “Okay, you guys gotta stay here. Don't cause trouble, don't die, just stay here. I need to go on ahead and talk to Gorgon.”

Lup gave him a little salute, grabbed Johann's wrist, and dragged both of them over to the table with knife cat before the bard could protest. 

The tabaxi's ears flicked back as she heard the two approaching. “Oh, hey new blood,” she turned to face them and smiled with too many teeth. Her predator eyes focused on Johann, amused at his obvious fear.

“Who are you guys?” the firbolg asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lup shrugged, meeting them with a confident smile. “Friends of Barry, passing through.”

The lizardfolk peeled her hand up from the table, where it had somehow gotten stuck. She stood quickly and slipped around the table to stand in front of them, holding out a hand for a shake. “Hey, put er there, any friend of Barry's is a friend of mine!”

“Do you even know who that is?” the tabaxi asked.

“Isn't he that bodyguard that was carrying around that dead rat?” the lizardfolk asked, not retracting her hand. 

“He what?” Lup asked, not moving to shake her hand at all. 

“Yeah, I think he stole some necromancy books from the university too,” the tabaxi nodded thoughtfully. “I wasn't on that heist but my sister goes there and told me she saw him.”

The lizard raised an eyebrow. “Your sister knows the different thieves in town?”

“She knows what a thief looks like, she isn't dumb,” the tabaxi focused back on Lup. “You’re friends with death boy?”

“Sure,” Lup made a mental note to ask Barry about his death interests later. It did seem kind of weird that a double agent would have such a conspicuous hobby, but really with this crowd it didn’t seem too risky.

Lup’s eye caught Johann, who was staring at the lizardfolk’s still outstretched hand. The lizard’s eyes focused on him instead, smiling widely and moving her offered hand to him instead. “Put ‘er there!” 

Lup held back a giggle as Johann nearly flinched back. “Come on, dude, a nice lizard introduces themself to you and you won’t even shake their hand? You’re so rude. The audacity.”

Johann glared at her. Then back at the hand. Then at the lizardfolk. Then he sighed, rolled his eyes, and shook the lizardfolk’s hand. Nothing happened immediately. Lup had been expecting a joy buzzer or maybe a Shocking Grasp, but nothing. Except when Johann pulled his hand away, it wouldn’t budge. Her hand went slack and she let him pull and shake their hands, but they were stuck. The lizardfolk doubled over with laughter, using her free hand to wipe tears from her eyes, as Johann struggled to separate his hand from hers. The rest of the table and Lup also erupted into laughter.

The tabaxi slammed a hand on Lup’s shoulder to avoid falling off the table in her laughter. “I fucking… I love when people fall for that.”

“Haha, hilarious.” Johann groaned and let his hand fall. It was still very stuck, and the lizardfolk was laughing too hard to help. “What even is this?”

“Sticky hands!” the lizardfolk said, between gasps for air. “Good for climbing walls and fucking with people.”

The sleepy purple-haired person at the table opened one eye and smiled, not lifting their head. “You got another one?” they mumbled.

Finally, the lizardfolk peeled her hand off of Johann’s and let him go. The tabaxi nudged the firbolg. “Go grab chairs for our new bffs.” 

“How do you know they have time?” The firbolg rolled her eyes.

“They approached us, they better wanna hang out.”

The firbolg stood and grabbed the backs of two empty chairs from nearby tables, and spun them to face their own table. “Sit down, then.”

“Absolutely,” Lup replied loudly, drowning out Johann’s half-assed and quiet excuse. She flopped into one of the new chairs, and propped her feet onto the table. Johann grumbled and sat down beside her, moving his violin case to his lap. 

“So, what exactly brings you to the Gorgon Mansion?” the tabaxi asked, picking up the knife to try and balance it again. “People don’t tend to ‘just pass through’.”

“They don’t?” Lup raised an eyebrow.

“Nope. Most get stuck here, working for him,” the firbolg explained. 

“I mean, that’s kinda why we’re here?” Lup shrugged, supposing that since that was their cover it wouldn’t do any harm to tell these guys that. “Need to ask him for a loan or some mercy or something so we can get the hell out of town.”

There was a sudden silence, and the tabaxi dropped the knife with a clatter again. The thieves at the table exchanged a glance, even the tired one lifted up their head to share in the Look. “That’s... not a great idea,” the tabaxi explained 

Good thing that’s not really their plan. “Well it’s not like I really want to be in debt to him. I didn’t wake up this morning like, ‘Oh fucking yay today is the day I get to owe a crime lord my life’, but there ain’t much choice my guys.”

“Not having a choice is how most of us ended up here,” the firbolg said, sighing and resting her chin on her hand. “Or at least thinking we didn’t have a choice.”

“Seriously, if you think you have any choice at all, get the fuck out of here,” the tabaxi glared at them seriously. Lup felt her ears droop in shame in spite of herself.

“You guys sound like you really don’t like your boss,” she said. “Not that I can blame you, from what I’ve heard he’s a real Midass, but what’s up with that?”

“Boss? More like he’s keeping us prisoner,” the lizardfolk shuddered, “Don’t tell him we said that, or he’ll turn us to stone.”

“Yeah, he uses that fucking… thing… to turn people to stone or gold or whatever whenever they don’t do what he wants,” the tabaxi stabbed the knife into the table. 

“Is it a thing or just a power he has?” the lizardfolk asked.

The firbolg raised an eyebrow, “I heard he had, like, a shard of a god’s power?”

“No one really knows how he does it, thinking about it makes me tired,” the purple-haired person mumbled, burying their head in their arms.

“I don’t care,” the tabaxi grumbled. ”I wanna fucking fight him. I became a thief because I hated authority and now I’m stuck here. Just wanted money to put my sister through college, now if I don’t keep going on stupid heists for him he’ll turn both of us into stone.”

Johann’s head snapped towards her and he frowned. “He threatened your sister too?”

“Yup, like, he gets at your fucking weaknesses. I hear he’s even turned some people’s pets to gold and sold em as statues.”

Lup and Johann exchanged a glance at that. Instead Lup asked, “Does he have shit on all of you?”

They all nodded. “I got framed for something serious, he’s gonna turn me in if I act up,” the lizardfolk explained. “It wasn’t even my fault.”

“I didn’t realize how serious this was when I joined up, he just said he could get me out of community service,” the firbolg shrugged, “Now I’m wanted for way more than skipping out on community service. If I leave, I’m toast. I just wanted the money for a nature reserve and didn’t wanna waste time.”

The lizardfolk turned to the firbolg. “You were going to buy a nature reserve?” 

“Yep. Up north.”

“Was it gonna have bears?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Aw man.”

The one with purple hair spoke up, voice laced with sleep. “I used to forge signatures and steal antiques. I still do that but, you know, afraid now.”

“Yeah, the point is, don’t get under that motherfucker’s thumb if you don’t have to,” the tabaxi picked up the knife again and gestured with it while she spoke. Johann flinched, but the other thieves at the table just casually leaned out of accidental stabbing distance. “It ain’t all bad, you meet some interesting people here and you make money, but it’s scary as hell and just serving a different master. Instead of the government you gotta deal with someone who’s nearly as bad looking over your shoulder.”

“You certainly seem like interesting people,” Johann said. Lup glanced over at him and was surprised to see a strange look on his face. Contemplative, like something had just occurred to him, and he was looking between all the thieves at the table as if watching a play. “Unique, sorta.”

“Hell yeah!” the lizardfolk said, “We’re unique!” She clapped once, then realized her mistake and frowned at her stuck hands.

“That's one way of putting it,” a voice said. Lup looked up and saw a familiar wood elf, standing with arms crossed behind the table. She didn’t notice him approach, but no one else at the table besides Johann seemed surprised to see him. He was glaring at the thieves at the table and opened his mouth to say something else, but then his eyes focused on Lup. Realization flashed across his face and whatever he was going to say turned into, “Oh god, you're that pool hustler! Why the fuck are you here?”

Lup smirked at him. She wasn’t going to have any mercy for people who bet real ass dead cats on pool games. “I don't know what you're talking about, stranger-man. I always play fair.”

“Bullshit!” his ears flicked back in anger. He didn't seem any more put together now than he did when he was drunk. “Whatever, keep the fuckin trophy. I've got a hundred more.”

The tabaxi rolled her eyes. “Fucking kissass. I bet Gorgon only gives you those to shut you up.” Then she reached over and punched Lup on the shoulder. “Don't know what you did but if you taught this asshole a lesson, you're a real hero. He's the most scared of Gorgon so he lives up his ass, pretty much.”

The wood elf glared and the tips of his ears turned red. The lizardfolk and the firbolg were laughing at him, and Lup couldn't resist joining in. “That’s not true!” he shouted, over the laughter. “Fuck you! Whatever. I only wanted to tell you idiots that Saurvi’s on the second floor yelling about how you owe them help cleaning up the cheerwine you spilled all over the landing.”

“They started it!” the tabaxi and the lizardfolk protested in unison.

“Do whatever the fuck you want, I’m just delivering a message,” the wood elf shrugged, threw another glare at Lup, and left.

The tabaxi groaned. “What are the chances Saurvi tests out their new paralysis poison on us if we don’t go help?”

“100%,” the purple haired muttered without looking up.

The four thieves all stood up, moving slowly and rolling their eyes. The firbolg clapped her hand down on Lup’s shoulder, not even looking down at her as she left. “Later.”

“Hope we don’t see you around too much!” the tabaxi saluted, flicked her tail, and ran up the big main staircase.

Lup and Johann watched the group leave. There wasn’t much else to do, since none of the other groups looked particularly inviting and Barry was still nowhere to be seen. Lup propped up her chin on the table and stared blankly ahead.

“Those were… interesting people,” Johann said after a moment. “More than I expected. Did we just have an entire conversation with them and not learn any of their names?”

“Thieves aaaren’t super in the habit of giving away their names to strangers that might go right to the militia, my man. What did you expect?” Lup raised an eyebrow. 

“Well for one I didn’t exactly expect them to just straight up tell us their backstories within .3 seconds of meeting us, that was one surprise.”

“They wanted us to understand Gorgon’s a real bad dude. Some thieves just wanna look out for other thieves,”

Johann raised an eyebrow and turned his chair to face her. “Haven’t you been telling me not to trust people since we met?”

Lup sat up. “Well yeah, don’t be stupid, and especially don’t trust people who  _ aren’t _ thieves on the streets because those are the guys that’ll really fuck you up. And it’s not like thieves are all good people, but ya know, a lot of em are pretty good.”

“This is going to sound really stupid,” Johann warned, “but if they’re good people why do they steal things and stab people? Cause those are two things that usually put you, pretty solidly under the ‘not good’ category.”

“Well, you heard them. Sometimes you don’t have a choice, sometimes you’re just trying to help the people you care about, sometimes you only care about your own interests, there’s all sorts of reasons to do a crime. There’s a moral grayness to it, I guess. In my experience, if you’ve got no skin in the game there’s nothing wrong with not assuming everyone is awful. No one likes a judgey, edgey fucker who thinks totally everyone is a piece of shit and goes on about how everyone is just waiting to screw you over. People who do bad things are just desperate sometimes. Every thief’s got a story.”

Johann tapped a finger on the table to some rhythm in his head, thinking this over. Finally, he made eye contact with Lup and asked, “What’s  _ your _ story?”

Lup frowned and leaned back in her chair. That wasn’t what she had been expecting. “I mean, you pretty much know the jist of it? Shitty family, tossed around, ended up on the streets and survived by pickpocketing and riding in caravans. Pretty basic backstory, a sad number of people had the same shitty childhood, I just grew up into one badass bodyguard.” She didn’t talk about her past much, or think about it at all really. She’s pretty sure she told Johann the basics at some point, but nothing in detail about all the times she’d had to run from people who were supposed to be protecting her, sleeping alone on the streets, getting colds and the flu and getting thrown out of caravans so she didn’t get others sick, and the horrible loneliness of being left without anyone at all she could trust time and time again. How often she’d gotten hurt trying to be a hero like she had when she’d saved Johann, or how often she’d gotten in trouble because she trusted ‘a thief with a story’.” No one wanted to hear that, and she didn’t want to think about it. It felt like thinking about her past now was more upsetting to her than it used to be. She wasn’t really the type to dwell on or even care too much about the past before, but now it hurt to even think about it.

Before Johann could ask for clarification or anything, Lup spotted Barry speedwalking down the staircase. Even from here, she could see he looked pretty alarmed and was looking about wildly. Lup stood up quickly and ran to meet him at the bottom of the staircase, Johann not far behind.

“You guys know how I said shit was not going to go according to plan?” Barry whispered when they got close enough, coming to a stop on the last stair. “Shit has already not gone according to plan.”

“Oh, shit,” Johann said.

“That was quicker than I expected,” Lup’s ears flicked up, by she didn’t hear anything really concerning like sounds of fighting. Well, besides the typical shouting and smashes from the rowdy guys outside. She started up the stairs as Barry circled behind her and Johann and ushered them forward. “How far off plan has it gone? Are we talking, took a wrong turn and it’ll take some navigation to get back on track to the plan, or did we go the wrong direction entirely?”

“Like a meteor landed in the middle of the track,” Near the top of the stairs, Barry looked up and grimaced. Lup was looking over her shoulder to talk to him while walking, so she didn’t see what he was looking at at first. She just noticed that Johann had stopped beside her, suddenly even more tense. She blinked and looked up to see what was happening. 

A half-orc woman was standing just beyond the landing, leering down at the three of them. She wasn’t wearing her trademark Gorgon gang cloak right now, but Lup had no trouble recognizing the very threatening bard.

“L-Lash,” Barry said, coming to stop when Johann and Lup did, “I told you I was gonna go, uh, fetch them. Weren’t you gonna wait with Gorgon?”

“Wanted to see this with my own eyes,” Lash loomed over Johann, who held his head high but Lup saw his clutch harder at his violin nervously. “Can’t believe violin guy is crawling back to say ‘sorry’ Didn’t like the smell of ash, huh? This is what happens when you piss off a buddy of Gorgon, motherfuck. Can’t wait to see you cry, audience-stealer.”

Johann frowned, looking unsure of what to say that wouldn’t either make him look weak or get him beat up before they even get close to Gorgon. Luckily, Lash didn’t wait for a response for long. “You were gonna let me  _ miss _ this, Barry, what the fuck?” she stepped around Lup and Johann to clap Barry on the back. The human looked horribly uncomfortable at the vaguely threatening smile Lash was giving all three of them. “Good thing I smashed my lyre and had to come back and fix it, didn’t even know this was happening. How were they supposed to grovel at my fucking feet if I’m not here?”

“Oh, you know,” Barry said, putting on a very fake smile. That was all, he didn’t clarify his statement at all. He stepped away from her and kept herding Johann and Lup up the stairs, moving slightly faster as if they could just leave Lash behind. They were on the second floor now and the staircase leading to the third floor and the sitting room would be a couple hallways away, just like the very crude of map Barry had showed them. Right now they were in another large room, this one filled with mostly broken furniture and scrap metal. There were a few people digging through the piles, and Lup even saw someone using scraps to make some sort of clockwork robot. Someone else was in the back, smashing a bookcase with his bare fists.

“Look, at least they encourage creativity,” Lup muttered, softly enough only Johann could hear. She quickly regretted looking around when her eyes fell on someone among the stacks, pulling out a perfect wood statue of an elf. Her head snapped back forward.

“It’s a left here-” Barry started to say, but Lash grabbed Lup and Johann’s shoulders without warning and shoved them roughly in the direction they needed to go. Lup stumbled as she tried to dodge the push, but the half-orc managed to right her before shoving her away.

Lup felt a burst of anger and spun to face her. “Woah there babe, I’d super appreciate you not fucking touching me again,” she spat, “I know how to walk  _ and  _ how to make you combust, so if you don’t plan on buying me some dinner keep your meat paws to yourself,”

The group froze in this, thankfully mostly empty, hallway. Barry had gone very pale and was looking back and forth between Lash and Lup like he expected fists to fly. Lup wasn’t sure they wouldn’t. Fuck this lady, seriously. A flare of rage was building in Lup’s mind and she glared at the half-orc, and she clutched her wand, hidden in her pocket. No stupid plan was worth being pushed around by this entitled prick.

Lash was glaring back and her hands curled into fists. “Hey guys, this is a civil negotiation, can we at least wait until we’re with Gorgon to fight?” Barry almost begged. Lup tore her eyes away from Lash’s face to look at him, then at Johann, who had his fingers on the claps to his violin case like he wasn’t sure if he would have to back her up or not. Bless that bard.

“Civil negotiation?” Lash spat incredulously, “These two idiots will be made an example of, that’s for fucking sure. Guess you didn’t learn your damn lesson.” 

The half-orc stomped off. This hallway was wide and ended in the staircase up to the third floor and the sitting room. She pushed past the group of thieves Lup had talked to earlier, all of whom were sitting around with cleaning supplies and ignoring the large, sticky stain all over the stairs and the landing. The tabaxi glared at the half-orc as she stomped by, tugging the purple-haired one out of the way so they didn’t get stepped on.

“Lup, jesus christ,” Barry whispered once Lash was gone, “You’re supposed to seem scared and apologetic. That wasn’t scared and apologetic, that was angry and murderous, there’s kind of a difference and that difference is whether you die or not,”

“She wasn’t even supposed to be here, the plan didn’t involve her literally pushing me around, kay?” Lup crossed her arms and swept towards the stairs. “Besides, we’re almost there. I’ll be a good actress when Gorgon is in front of me.”

She stepped around the purple-haired thief, who was laying flat on the floor. The others nodded as she passed, and the tabaxi whispered, “Remember what I said, bud,”. Lup nodded back at her and scaled the stairs, only pausing at the top so she didn’t leave Barry and Johann behind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> had a lot of time to work on writing because of the hours i've spent in waiting rooms without reliable internet. it's like being very busy and very bored at the same time  
> hope you enjoyed, thanks for commenting, next chapter soon, find me at unluckyrose.tumblr.com


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah, two updates only a week apart, you guys better not start thinking im good at this fanfiction thing or something
> 
> I was real excited to get to this chapter, hope you enjoy~

Lup, Johann, and Barry stopped in front of a pair of imposing double doors. They were painted red and had beautiful, intricate carvings of crossed swords. Lup wondered if that was there when Gorgon bought the house, or if he commissioned it to intimidate people before they met with him. Her ears twitched as she heard Lash’s raised voice inside.

“It’s not like they learned any fucking lesson! They’re still messing with us! You can’t indulge their shit, don’t give them a  _ cent _ , if you want my opinion-”

Barry reached up a hand and knocked sharply on the door, three times. It wasn’t like cutting Lash off would make her opinion any less obvious to Gorgon, but it was probably a good decision on his part to not let her continue ranting about how much they suck to the guy who had to power to kill them all.

“Sir?” Barry said tentatively, “I’ve got the bard and his bodyguard here, for the, apology thing.” He slowly opened the door, looking in through a crack that Lup couldn’t quite see through from where she was standing. “Though I think you kinda got that.”

“Yeah, I got it. Lash has been loudly explaining it to me,” a voice said from inside the room. “Just get in here so we can get this fuckin nonsense over with.”

Barry pushed the double doors the rest of the way open. Lup ran her eyes over the room quickly, first taking in the doors that were supposed to be barricaded during the fight, then the door they were supposed to escape out of, then the window just in case, then finally she let her eyes land on Gorgon himself.

Gill Gorgon was a short, copper-skinned elf with close-shaven black hair. As soon as Lup took him in, she felt horribly unsettled. It wasn’t just that she knew he was a bad dude, but something in his eyes shook her. They were sort of glazed over, like he wasn’t entirely there, but his voice sounded so sure, deep, and grounded. He kept shaking his head and twitching his ears, as if trying to hear something far off and one hand was clutching something in his pocket. He was somehow both somewhere else and completely in control. It was a weird combination that was horribly unnatural and had Lup reaching for her hidden wand.

Gorgon waved them in with a hand, not even looking directly at them. Lash was standing right beside him, following him as he paced back and forth. There was one very comfortable-looking, tall-backed chair. Lup had a feeling Gorgon was the only one allowed to sit in it. 

“If you want my opinion, they should be turned into gold, ‘least then they’d be worth something,” Lash finished her rant. She stopped following Gorgon and went to stand beside the chair, standing up straight and crossing her arms. She bared her teeth at Lup, showing off her orcish tusks. Lup matched her glare with a grin.

The trio stepped into the room, the double doors clanging shut ominously behind them. Johann flinched at the noise, and Lup subtly patted him on the shoulder. Barry ignored them and went to stand beside Lash. He tried to imitate how she was standing, crossing his arms and glaring at the two, but Lup couldn’t find him intimidating if she tried, especially with him standing next to the much more terrifying half-orc.

“Alright,” Gorgon sighed and walked over to his chair. He walked with a slouch and kept that one hand in his pocket. When he fell back into his chair and fixed his strange eyes on Lup and Johann, both of them stood straighter on instinct. “So. Lash is one of my… lieutenants, and she gets what she wants. She wants the audience of Neverwinter, so she gets it, and any bard that tries to play in her spot gets scared away. Understand that?”

Lup and Johann nodded in sync.

“So Lash went with her bodyguard and tried to play in her spot, and you were there, and she scared you away. So, why isn’t this interaction over, exactly?” He sounded very strong, but very tired. Lup wasn't sure what all these impressions he was giving off meant. Was this guy being charmed or something? That would explain the weird behavior and glazed eyes, but he seemed so sure of himself. She wasn't an expert in magic that wasn't fire, though. She hadn’t known anything about magic at all until she'd saved Johann. Just… something about his demeanor was deeply upsetting.

Lup cleared her throat and started speaking. “That 'burn everything we own for standing somewhere we weren't supposed to’ interaction-”

“You  _ stole _ my audience,” Lash interrupted, “You know what people said when I went to play there today? 'Where's that violin guy from yesterday?’ You  _ ruined _ my playing spot!”

Lup resisted saying 'That sounds like a you problem, amigo,’ and instead said, “ _ That _ interaction is over, but, having learned not to stand against you cool criminal guys, we wanna make a deal. A new interaction, getting off on a better foot this time. Can't beat em, join em, getcha?”

Gorgon looked blank and unimpressed.

“We need money and a new caravan to get out of Neverwinter and continue on our way, yaknow? So, the deal is, you whip out your cool powers, give us something to sell for supplies, and we keep on going on our way to Goldcliff. My boy here keeps playing music, far from your setup, and bada bing, we send you a 10% cut of whatever we get,” Lup started speaking quicker and quicker as she went on and gesturing with her hands as Gorgon's expression didn't change. Until she mentioned his powers, that is, when he leaned forward sharply.

Lash scoffed, speaking before Gorgon could say anything. “10%? You think that'll save you assholes?”

“We can negotiate it if we have to,” Lup said.

“Man, you'd get more money by turning them into gold,” Lash turned to Gorgon and gestured angrily at Lup. Gorgon was tense, but silent. He blinked, shook his head, then stood. 

“Maybe you’re right, Lash,” he muttered distractedly, and the hand that had been in his pocket started to slowly pull something out. Lash pumped her fist in victory.

Lup was staring at the object Gorgon had pulled out and almost didn't catch Lash's joy at the idea they were about to be killed. By the way Johann and Barry tensed as well, she guessed their attention was also immediately drawn to it. It was… a plain rock. Not an amazing powerful staff or necklace or anything Lup had expected, but a normal-looking rock. Light gray and smooth. But somehow, even though it didn't look any different from any other rock you could find outside, she felt its power. It was unsettling to look at in the way it pulled all attention to it just by being there. It was the item that had done all of this, she knew that down to her fucking soul.

Then she blinked, and her mind was clearer. “Oh, I don't know about that,” she blurted, responding to what Lash had said awkwardly late. “We were  _ rolling _ in cash before all this nonsense, didn't you hear how quickly my boy here won over that audience? He's good, he's the fucking best at music. Hey, Johann,” Lup turned to the bard, but his eyes were still stuck on the rock. His fingers were twitching, like he just wanted to… take it. Lup grabbed his shoulder and shook him. “Pay attention, dude,” she said, a little too panicked to whisper. He blinked and looked directly at her. “Come on, show them how good you are at playing! Play them  _ that song  _ you played for  _ the guy back at Sunpeak _ !” she gritted her teeth and tried to put obvious emphasis on her words.

Johann suddenly seemed to snap back to the present, and take in the situation. The situation of Gorgon pulling out a very magical item that could turn them into inanimate objects while he was being egged on to do just that by someone who really hated them. His eyes widened with panic now, well, more than before, and he nodded vigorously.

“I think I've made my decision-,” Gorgon began, but Johann was already taking his violin out of its case and propping it under his chin. Lup braced herself just in time as he ran the bow along the strings and a thunderwave shook the room.

Lash flew back the furthest, thudding onto her back on the floor and skidding ten feet. Barry flew into the wall on their left and Lup suppressed a wince. She wished she could've warned him, but at least he was still on his feet. Gorgon was tossed back into his chair, which fell over hard and he was immediately dumped back put onto the floor. Caught off guard, he'd let go of the stone and it flew into the air. Lup reacted quickly, whipping out her wand and snatching it out of the air with a mage hand. The spectral hand drifted back to her and she took the stone in her real hand.

“You fuckers!” Gorgon spat, with the most emotion she'd heard from him since they entered the room, “Give it back!”

“Time to go,” Lup shouted. she grabbed Johann by the arm, glanced at Barry to make sure he wasn't too hurt to follow, and made a dash for the planned exit.

Except they didn't make it far. Something caught around Lup’s ankle and suddenly the floor came up to meet her. Instinctively, she clutched the rock harder so she didn't lose it. Unfortunately this meant the hand she used to try and catch herself was the one holding her wand, and it dropped and rolled away as she lost her grip on it. She heard Lash's scream of anger as the half-orc climbed to her feet, not letting Lup's ankle go. She tried to roll over and face her, but she planted a hand on her back to keep her pinned.

Somewhere above, Gorgon was screaming in pain and Johann was casting something else. Barry's shoes thudded on the tile quickly and suddenly the weight was removed from Lup's back. She jumped to her feet and turned to face the scene. Gorgon had pulled out a dagger and was slashing at Johann, who was trying to dodge while also standing in the way of him getting to Lup. Lash was still standing right behind Lup, but had straightened and was looking at Barry in confusion. Barry was clinging to the half-orc's back and punching her, ineffectively. 

“Aren't you supposed to be a fighter?” Lup asked incredulously.

“Aren't you supposed to be running?” Barry shot back.

“Aren't you supposed to be on my side??” Lash interjected.

“Great, that's established, come on guys,” Lup clapped once and spun on her heel, ready to make a break for the door again. There was a thunk as Barry was knocked off Lash's back. A hand grabbed the back of Lup's shirt and lifted her into the air. Of course this wasn't going to be easy at all.

_ I could help _ , someone said. Lup twitched her ears and struggled in Lash's grasp. 

“Who said that?” Lup asked.

“No one's talking, Lup, just screaming!” Barry shouted.

_ Me, I'm talking. I could help. I could turn your enemies into statues, give you whatever you want, get you out of this ja- _

The voice was cut off before Lup could find its source. Lash's bigger hand enveloped her own and suddenly the stone was gone. “Fuck!”

“Heads up!” Barry shouted. Lup turned just in time to see him tossing her wand at her. She snatched it out of the air with her right hand and had cast a fire bolt directly into Lash's face without even thinking about it.

“Bluejeans, you fucking traitor, get over here!” Lash screamed.

“Oh geez,” Barry ducked towards the door. He only just managed to kick it open when Gorgon's chair flew across the room towards him with another scream from Lash.

“Shit,” Lup shoved him out of the way, just in time to make sure he didn't take the brunt of the damage, but in the process the arm of the chair clipped her skull. She fell to the floor again, the world going in spirals for a moment. “How much of this fight am I going to spend on the floor?” she grumbled, because she was suddenly far too dizzy to roll over.

Chaos reigned behind her. Distantly, she could hear the sounds of Johann's spells, Gorgon's shouting, and Barry and Lash scuffling. Then, suddenly, everything went horribly silent.

She slowly lifted her head up, the dizziness already fading and adrenaline dulling the pain. Johann was also on the floor, one hand over his right eye and the other holding his violin close to his chest. He wasn't attacking or defending right now, but was watching the scene unfold.

Lash had Barry pinned to the wall by his neck, but her body was turned to face Gorgon. Gorgon was slowly approaching her, hands out like she was a wild animal. Lash was clutching the stone in one hand, and staring down at it. Her eyes were glazed and she was tilting her head as if trying to hear something.

“Lash, give the stone back to be,” Gorgon said, quiet and dangerous.

“W-why? What?” Lash shook her head and frowned at the stone. 

“Hey, he's the boss, maybe you should listen to him?” Barry suggested, scrabbling at the hand that was holding his neck.

“You're one to talk!” Lash spat. She shook her head again and looked back at the stone. “You shut up!”

“Who shut up?”

Gorgon took another step and Lash's attention whipped back to him. “Give me the stone, Lash. It's mine. It called to  _ me _ . I've been using it, I know how to handle it, you don't, give me  _ the fucking rock- _ ”

Lash growled. It was a rumble that seemed to shake the room. Barry and Gorgon both froze in place, staring at the half-orc with wide eyes. Then, she lifted the rock and grinned widely, baring her teeth.

“Actually, Gill, ya know what? You're not my boss anymore. I don't need you,” she dropped Barry, who slid to the floor. “I can make my own money and scare anyone I want, so, I don't need a creepy boss,” And she punched him. There was a horrible cracking noise, and then Gorgon fell to the ground. Except, the sound wasn't right. It was less of a body hitting tile sound and more of a…

Metallic clank. Lup shook her head to clear her vision. Gill Gorgon was solid gold, frozen in a flinch, his face screwed up as if he was forever stuck in that moment right before Lash had hit him.

“Johann let's fucking go,” Lup hissed. She pushed herself to her feet, ignoring the way the world still swayed a little, and pulled the bard up with her by the back of the shirt. She shoved him towards the door ahead of her, then looked back at Barry.

Barry tried to scramble up after them, but the second he moved Lash's eyes were on him again.

“You know what else I don't need?” she asked, “Traitors.”

Barry was frozen mid-run. He clanged to the floor, the momentum carrying over even after his flesh was replaced with gold. Lup clutched her wand and stepped out the door.

“Guess what, crowd-stealers?” Lash shouted after her. “I also don't need fucking enemies.”

“Okay, go, go, we're bolting now, come on,” Lup shoved Johann again, and they both broke into a sprint. The path from the exit door was actually pretty cramped and didn't have nearly enough turns for her liking. It didn't look like actual contact was needed for the statue thing, so staying out of Lash's line of sight until they could get out of the mansion was their best bet. She kept Johann in front of her for the few tense seconds they had to run down the straight hallway with Lash only about ten feet behind them.

When there finally was a turn, they almost ran headlong into random thief. He was a human, carrying a shortsword in one hand and a dagger in the other. “Oh hey,” the thief said, far too casually and cheerfully for Lup's adrenaline filled brain, “I heard shouting, do I gotta break up a fight?”

“Lash went off the rails she killed Gorgon and Barry and she's gonna kill us  _ fucking move _ ,” Lup practically shouted in his face, all in one breath. She used Johann as a shield to push the stranger out of the way and kept going, just in time to hear Lash behind them.

“I'm gonna turn you into porcelain and make you into toilets!”

Up ahead, Lup saw a door to their left. She tried to remember the floor plans Barry had drawn up. They weren't supposed to go this way, but surely there would be more things to hide behind if they could get out through the main rooms. They hadn't expected they wouldn't have the stone when making their escape so a straight shot outside had seemed like a good idea, but now it was feeling a little like a death sentence.

“Woah Lash, how about we calm down?” the random human said behind them. “Is all this true?”

“Shut up, Steve!” Lash snapped. Lup didn't look back as she heard the metallic clang of 'Steve’ hitting the floor. Fuck, there was no easy way out of this. She grabbed the door as soon as it was in arms reach, pushed it open, and pulled herself and Johann into…

A familiar hallway. Hell yeah, they weren't far from the sitting room and Lup knew exactly how to get out from here. “Down the stairs, we're going out to front,” she quickly explained to Johann. He nodded and sprinted ahead, and she followed close on his heels. The stairs they had just come up were right ahead of them.

“Oh shit, what's going on?” the tabaxi from earlier sprang to her feet as the pair practically jumped down the stairs. They still hadn't cleaned the stairs, but Lup was a little too busy running for her life to care about sticky shoes.

“Lash killed Gorgon and Barry and she's gonna kill us run or die,” Lup explained quickly, not stopping for a second. She vaguely registered the tabaxi saying something to her friends about ‘taking care of this’ and 'going ahead to warn everyone’. Lup hoped that meant they were evacuating the mansion.

They slid around the corner into the huge scrap room to find a lot of thieves drawing their weapons and looking around for the danger. They didn’t stop, just kept sprinting back the way they’d come into this mansion, ignoring the questions about what was happening. Lup had already explained it to someone else and she hoped that tabaxi and her friends could do something about getting everyone else to safety. Considering they were the main targets, the best Lup and Johann could do was get out of there with their flesh still soft and as few collateral gold statues behind them as possible.

Lash was screaming, and luckily from the sounds of it she was a bit farther away than before. It was coming from just around the corner to the scrap room. Lup picked up the words, “Out of  _ my way _ -” and “I’ll be _ rich _ !-” And none of it sounded good.

Finally, she saw the front doors. All the criminals that were relaxing out here moments ago were either fleeing through the front doors and broken windows, or rushing up the staircase past them. Lup wanted to explain, to tell these guys to turn and run instead, that they’d just end up statues, but she was so out of breath and the bump on her head was starting to throb. But they couldn’t stop, they were almost home free. Sure, this would be a net loss, but at least they’d have their lives-

Then Johann tripped, and since Lup was right on his heels, she went skidding to the floor too. Luckily they stopped right at the top of the staircase and didn’t fall down, but Lup’s knee hit the floor hard and gave out when she tried to get back up right away. Then she tried again, and her foot slipped out from under her.

“Lup, it’s-” Johann started to say, but she already saw. They hadn’t tripped on anything,  _ they’d slipped _ , because the floor wasn’t tile or carpet or whatever had been on this staircase before but it was now solid, polished gold. Johann had dropped his violin when they slipped and it was lying on the floor, metallic and probably too heavy to carry. Above them, gold was creeping up the walls and across the ceiling, like shadows rolling in when the sun sets. Horrified screams were cut off behind them. 

“The entire… the whole fucking place-” Johann panted.

“We have to get the fuck out,” 

“Yeah, no shit, I thought we were just going for a casual stroll,” he shot back, but he was already moving over to grip the stair railing. With that leverage, he pulled himself to his feet without slipping on the gold, then helped Lup to her feet. In the hallway behind them, another scream was cut off, and they didn’t waste any more time. They skipped down the stairs, avoiding any spots that were shiny gold, and the doors were in sight.

They pushed through the front doors at the same time. Johann held his hat on with one hand as they emerged out into the wind. They didn’t stop running until they were beyond the gates and out onto the road, off of Gorgon property.

As she doubled over and tried to catch her breath, Lup noted that the street was deserted right now. Anyone that had fled was long gone right now, and no one came running out of the mansion after them. Which was a bit weird, actually. Did Lash give up? Did the others in the mansion stop her? 

“Lup, look.” Johann tugged on her shoulder. She turned to see what he was pointing at.

The entire mansion was gold.

Well, it was still turning gold while they watch. The gold that was creeping over the floors and walls after them wasn’t just that front room. The windows that still had glass in them were now opaque, the walls glinted in the sunlight, even the roof was slowly transforming from wood and shingles into polished metal. The transformation was over in seconds, and both of them just sat in the street, open-mouthed and trying to catch their breaths. It was dead silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love your comments,
> 
> catch me at unluckyrose.tumblr.com


	9. Chapter 9

Lup wasn’t sure how long they stood there. The sunlight was still bouncing off the shining walls of the once crowded and active building, blinding her a little but not enough that she could tear her eyes away. The wind brushed through the grass in the yard in front of the mansion, untouched, while the wood behind it was still. It looked like the gold just… stopped at the front doorstep.

They finally snapped out of it when someone screamed. Lup looked back at the street to see a group of random civilians, probably nobles who lived nearby from the look of their clothes, pointing at the mansion. One of them mumbled something about calling emergency services. Lup wasn’t sure emergency services would be any help.

“I think,” she started, but lost her voice. The back of her head was throbbing and now that the adrenaline was gone she was exhausted. But, she tried again, “I think I’m gonna go back. Inside. Back into the mansion. See what’s up.”

“What the fuck?” Johann looked at her like she was crazy. “What if touching it turns you to gold too? What if it isn’t over?”

Lup shrugged. “I gotta.” She tried to stand up straight. She rolled her shoulders to try and dismiss the pain that was building there from falling to the ground so much in so little time. Johann’s eyes went from her, to the mansion, to the side of the street, back to her, back to the mansion. Finally, he sat on the sidewalk with a sigh and waved at her in a ‘go on, then’ motion. Good. Whatever. She would’ve asked him to stay back anyway.

It hadn’t been that long since their trio had walked up to this mansion. Had it even been an hour? Everything was so completely different, just like that. No more thugs on the stairs, no one smashing things in the yard, no one sitting precariously in broken windows. No laughter from inside. 

She climbed the steps in silence. The card game from earlier had blown into the grass. The doors were left wide open, because she and Johann hadn’t closed them when they ran through. She wondered if the hooded figures that had been guarding the entrance had run away or stayed to fight.

The main room was shiny gold. She tried to step in but slid immediately and she had to grab the doorway to avoid falling yet again. 

“These fuckin boots don’t have any traction, I’m trying to marvel in a tragedy here, stupid fuckin-” she kicked off her boots and socks, leaving them in the entrance. The floor was still very slippery, but at least she could keep her footing with her bare feet.

She couldn’t get over how horribly silent the mansion was. Every step she took seemed to echo endlessly. Every single surface in the main room, from the balconies to the tables to the stairs, were shiny gold. She experimentally knocked her knuckles on one of the tables, and it was hard and metallic. It seemed as if they were metal all the way through rather than just coated in it. 

The stairs were just as slippery. She climbed them carefully and slowly, clutching the railings for support. Thankfully, she made it to the top without falling on her ass. As soon as she stopped being worried about dying on a pure gold staircase, she looked up.

Everyone was still there. Just a few meters beyond the top of the stairs, every thief that had stayed to fight was frozen in time. People held weapons in the air, mouths frozen in shouts, eyes glazed over in their completely still position.

Lash was at the center of it all. Her face was frozen in a scream of rage, light reflecting off the metallic surface. One of her arms was up to shield herself from an attack, a slashing dagger halted in the air. Lup hid a small gasp when she saw that the attacker that was holding the dagger was the tabaxi woman from before. Lash's gaze wasn't focused on that, though, but was staring down at her other hand. The hand that held the stone was held lower and close to her side, but just before everything froze she seemed to have noticed the lizardfolk, also the one Lup had met earlier, had gotten close and nearly pulled the stone from her grasp.

Now that Lup looked around, she noticed that most of the thieves weren't focused on Lash in their final moments. All of the closest attackers were gazing at the stone itself with expressions of greed rather than anger. Sure, all of the thieves that were further away seemed to be trying to stop Lash, but once they got close their priorities must have changed to the stone.

“What exactly is this thing?” Lup muttered to herself. She kneeled down next to where the Lash statue held the stone and carefully moved the lizardfolk out of the way. The stone was jammed in between unmoving fingers, but Lup managed to grip it and pry it out. 

Now that she had a moment and wasn't trying to run for her life, she held the stone with two fingers and examined it. It was still a totally normal-looking rock. Small, gray, round. It didn't even feel any heavier or lighter in her hand. It was like a perfectly innocent stone. Except she knew it wasn't, and the horrible silence all around her proved it.

_ You're back… want to try this again?  _ a voice in her head said. She jumped and whipped her head around, but there was no one else here. Well, no one alive.

_ I'm the stone, pal. The little guy that did all of this. _

Lup glared down at the rock in her hand. 

_ I can turn anything into anything else, see? What these guys did- infinite gold? Killing your enemies and selling them? Were both great uses, but I can be used so much more creatively. You're much smarter- _

“Anything into anything else, huh?” Lup asked out loud, cutting the voice off, “Show me what you've got, my man. Bring everyone here back. Turn them into living people again.”

_...I can't do that, they're already dead. But instead, you could- _

“'K, then no deal, bubba,” Lup shoved the rock in her bag without another word. It was still trying to say something in a muffled shout, and Lup was too busy ignoring it to even wonder how something that wasn't even technically talking could sound muffled. 

She stepped past the Lash statue and began to weave through the crowd of frozen thieves. After she made it past the scrap room and towards the staircase to the third floor, the crowd had ended. Now the halls were just empty, blinding, gold.

The doors to the sitting room were now heavy, but luckily not solid with the floor. With as much purchase as she could get on the smooth floor, Lup put her shoulder to the double doors and shoved with her whole weight. She only managed to get it to budge a couple inches, but she could slip through.

The scene was just about how she had left it, except, well, gold now. Barry and Gorgon's bodies were still on the floor, just where they'd fallen when Lash got the stone. Lup found herself standing over Barry's body, and she sighed.

“Well, you sure fucking called it, huh? Things went so off the rails, the rails weren't even fuckin visible anymore. We should've had a bet going. Not that you'd be able to collect or anything.” Making sure she had something within arms reach to pull herself back up, she sank onto the floor beside his body. “I can see why you wanted to get this rock away from this bad guy, now. Super dangerous. That's for sure. I’m no magic expert but I don’t think items that can talk are ever  _ not _ super cursed. Uh, if it makes you feel better, I did get the rock, so it's not like you died for nothing. Got everyone in the house killed, though, so… that wasn't ideal.

“The thing is, I don't think this is the first time I've seen something like this? It's been really weird but, my head gets kinda fuzzy when I try to think about it? It's like deja vu. And there was one other time, the only time I've seen destruction like this, where nearly everyone in Sunpeak died. It didn't turn things into other things, but… I don't know, something tells me they're connected?” Lup put her face in her hands. “My life is just a fucking puzzle where half the pieces have been eaten by goats or some shit. Not to make this monologue about me. I came here to, say a few words, I guess? You can’t blame me for being all over the place, this is some fucking trauma I just went through! Except, you had it worse, of course. Uh,” she looked up and patted Barry's metal shoulder, “You were a good dude. You died trying your best. Thanks for trying to save people, even if I kinda fucked up. I wish you'd told me who your family are so I could tell them what happened. Did you even have a family? Parents? Siblings? Friends? Spouse? Man, I wonder if they're looking for you. That'd be super sad.”

Lup stared at his unmoving face for a few moments, then she sighed again and stood up. “Sorry I can't give you a funeral or anything. I should probably get going before cops come check this place out.”

She’s moving through the crowd of golden thieves when she sees movement again. She froze, then gripped her wand and ducked behind the nearest statue. However, when she peeked out above the statue’s head, she saw a familiar hat and sighed.

“I thought you weren’t coming in?” Lup asked, approaching Johann. He was standing in front of the tabaxi from earlier, eyes fixed on her frozen-in-time face. “Are there cops outside? I was just thinking we should get outta dodge.”

Johann blinked and glanced at her, then looked back at the tabaxi. “Oh. Yeah, uh, I saw cops coming around outside and came in to find you.” He experimentally poked the tabaxi’s arm. “They’re, uh, everyone’s dead, huh?”

Lup put her hands in her pockets and looked around. “Looks like it. Everyone that was in here is as frozen as bottle of water left out in the wagon on candlenights.”

Johann stood in silence, letting his eyes run over all of the statues in the area. Then he settled back on the tabaxi in front of him. “She had a sister, didn’t she?”

“Yeah.”

“I wish we could like. Tell her or something? We don’t even know her sister’s name. Or her name, actually.”

“She was a thief, they were all thieves,” Lup waved a hand around at the golden crowd, “Maybe no one knew their real names. Or who they were.”

He stepped back and craned his neck to see something else in the crowd. “There- I see the firbolg from before. Like, while I was walking in here I saw her and I just thought, ‘she was going to start a nature reserve’. But now we’re probably the only ones that know that. She didn’t get to do it, and now she’s gone forever and no one will ever know.” 

“Way to get existential on me after our fun near-death experience, Fantasy Dylan Thomas.” Lup nodded, “...I get what you mean, though. I really wish there was something we could do.”

“You made that point about how everyone has a story and I don’t know, it’s just… tragic. They could’ve been great stories but now they’re forgotten. One pissed-off orc and they’re gone forever.”

Lup nodded again. “One pissed-off orc and one really shitty and powerful rock.”

Johann turned to face her. “Where is that rock anyway? I wanted to look at it, but the statue doesn’t have it.”

Lup opened her mouth, then froze. The stone had spoken to her, twice, and asked her to use it. She thought about how Lash had looked just before she lost her marbles, like the stone was speaking to her as well. She bit her lip. Then she said, “I don’t know, man. Statue’s hand was empty was I came through here. Maybe it disintegrated when its job was done or something fucked up like that.”

Johann raised an eyebrow. “What, it wanted to be used to turn a bunch of people into gold then it was just like ‘okay my job is done’ and vanished? That seems-”

“Pretty normal for our weird-ass magical world? I agree.” Lup stood on her toes to try and see down the hall and the staircase to the main doors. “Let’s skedaddle, people will probably try to come in any moment.”

She brushed by him and weaved through the remaining statues between them and the staircase. Johann followed her without further discussion. She considered sneaking out a side door, but they’d both left their boots at the front door so they wouldn’t slip on the polished gold. Just as she reached the top of the staircase and breathed a sigh of relief that no one was standing in the doorway yet, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

“Hey, Johnny,” she said, leaning over and gripping the heavy object on the floor, “fiddle of gold against your soul says I’m better than you?”

“Oh, shit,” Johann grinned as Lup straightened, holding the violin he’d dropped earlier, now solid gold. “That is, that’s really fucking cool. I doubt it still works, though.”

“It’s heavy as hell,” Lup hefted it onto her shoulder to make holding it easier. “It is a solid gold fucking violin, though.”

Johann scratched the back of his neck and looked around at the scene, then back at his violin. “It’s not… practical to keep it, but-”

“But it’s a solid gold fucking violin,” Lup repeated

“It  _ is _ a solid gold fucking violin.”

“Exactly,” Lup spun on her heel to keep walking, then almost lost her balance because of new weight on her shoulder. Johann snickered at her as she stumbled and gripped the railing.

When they got outside, the first thing they saw was a group of emergency responders standing just a few feet away from where the gold stopped. Most of them looked like militia, but some looked like the wizards that had put out the fire on their caravan. Lup even recognized a few of them. Beyond the gate, just off the Gorgon property, was a huge crowd of horrified and curious citizens. It seemed like every eye was on Lup and Johann as soon as they stepped outside.

“...Fuck,” Lup whispered. Luckily, her and Johann’s boots hadn’t been touched, as it looked like the responders were waiting for evidence the gold wasn’t still contagious before venturing to the doorway. At least they wouldn’t have to make a daring escape from the cops barefoot. She grabbed both pairs and threw Johann’s to him.

“How did you get in there?” the militia-looking man standing closest asked. “This is a crime scene, it could’ve been dangerous! I could have you arrested for this!”

“Wait, no, are they survivors?” Another uniformed person asked.

Someone from the gate shouted, “They were in there when it happened! I watched them run out then go back in!”

Lup and Johann were carefully pretending to not hear any of this as they put their boots on as quickly as they could. “Hey, is that violin evidence? You can’t leave with evidence!”

Lup straightened when she saw that they both had their shoes on and pushed Johann out of the doorway and to the right. Their original escape plan had them leaving through the second gate, a smaller one that had probably been designed for a gardener’s use or something, and from where she was standing she could see there was no crowd around that one. She fixed the nearest militia person with a glare.  “Okay, listen up, gumshoe. You missed all the cool stuff, which is probably for the best cause that was like, super not a situation you wanna be if you wanted to live. You know that Gorgon guy? You don’t gotta worry about him anymore, totally gone, killed by his own hubris, like pretty much any story about a person with hubris. He was a bad dude and now he’s gone, and so is what let him be a bad dude, so I want you to go back to protecting this city from random assholes who attack homeless people and travellers, mkay? Go do your jobs, enjoy all the gold I guess, nothing like this is gonna happen ever again so go hogwild on the pawn shop or something. Toodles.” Lup said all of this very quickly while she and Johann edged towards the exit. Unfortunately, a lot of the responders were following them as they went.

“What the hell? You can’t leave! That’s evidence, you’re witnesses! What are you even talking about?” the first militia officer was saying, trailing behind them.

“I think that whole statement pretty solidly makes them suspects,” the second said.

Oh great. She knew she shouldn’t have gone back into the mansion. They should’ve left long before emergency responders showed up.

“Suspects? We’re survivors, the dude who did this is dead, you can go see his body for yourselves,” Lup jerked a thumb over her shoulder in the vague direction of the higher floors of the mansion. “No two people could cause this on our own anyway.”

Johann spoke up suddenly, adopting a ‘scared victim’ tone, “There was a fight, you can see them all frozen in there. We ran from the fight, then went back to see if anyone survived. And they didn’t! You guys should be better at handling survivors, shouldn’t you? We almost died and we’re in shock!” He stopped walking and tapped Lup on her shoulder. She glanced at him to see him making a ‘give it here’ motion towards the violin.

“What, and we’re taking your word for it?” one of the officers said. Lup handed the violin over to Johann, who swayed a little with the weight. He was able to heft it onto his shoulder and under his chin.

“Hey, that’s still evidence,” the officer said.

“Nope, this is mine actually,” Johann said. “See?” He lifted the bow and ran it across the strings. Lup was ready to wince, thinking about how terrible a gold violin must sound. However, the music that came from it was perfectly beautiful. She had been expecting the sound of metal scraping on metal, but it wasn’t like that at all. The strings were still the right tension and the music seemed to reflect off the metal to give it a louder and echoey quality. Johann’s music actually sounded even more magical than usual. He only played one note, but the spell had already taken effect.

The officer blinked. “Oh, you’re right,” he said, backing away. “I’m sorry about that. You guys need time to recover from your ordeal, and here we are accusing you!”

“How about you question us later, once we’ve recovered?” Johann smiled, very small and fake. “You have to go identify the bodies inside, don’t you?”

The officer nodded, and turned back to the rest of the responders. They were looking at him, a little confused, but nodded when he said, “Alright, let’s go in. At least get a body count.” Then he turned back to Lup and Johann. “Sorry again, you two. Go see a cleric and get some rest. But you shouldn’t leave town. Just because you’re nice people who didn’t do this doesn’t mean you don’t know something important, so we’re gonna come by and question you later.”

Johann nodded, “You’re absolutely right, sir. We’ll see you tomorrow.” He winced under the weight of the violin and handed it back to Lup, then began walking towards the back exit again. Lup hefted the violin again and followed. No one tried to stop them.

A few minutes later, they were out of sight, slipping behind a building and leaning against a brick wall. Lup looked left, right, up, and down, and when she was sure they were alone raised her eyebrows at Johann. “What the fuck?”

Johann’s eyes focused on the violin. “I know, I didn’t think that thing would still work. Like, I thought the strings would be fused or something, or it would sound awful.”

“No, I mean,” Lup glanced back in the direction they came, “You just cast Charm Person on a  _ cop _ , with violin you didn’t know for sure would work! That could’ve ended  _ so badly _ !”

His eyes widened, as if he had only just now realized that he did, in fact, do that. “That was really risky but, I had the idea and it was all I could think of?”

Lup laughed, loudly, and so hard that she almost unbalanced herself again. “I’m rubbing off on you! I do the risky stupid things in this duo, hypnotist.” Now that he realized he wasn’t being scolded, Johann started laughing too. 

“We should probably get out of Neverwinter before that spell wears off and we have a manhunt after us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> johann has a gold violin now because he deserves the world.
> 
> i love comments, find me at unluckyrose.tumblr.com, etc


	10. Chapter 10

The next night, Lup was laying on the ground next to a campfire, arms crossed behind her head as she watched the sky. Johann was leaning against a tree nearby, gold violin in his lap while he absentmindedly tapped a rolled-up map on his other hand. It was pretty cold at night without the caravan or bedrolls. They’d stolen the blankets from the inn on their quick return before skipping town, deciding they didn’t have time to stop in any stores. Charm Person only lasted an hour, after all.

“You know, after all the excitement from Neverwinter, I forgot the worst thing about basically being homeless,” Johann said, casually.

“It’s cold?” Lup suggested. Didn’t she buy a new jacket a few towns ago? Shit, that was burned in the fire. Just like everything else. She shivered a little.

“That too,” the bard tapped his fingers on violin, making metallic clicking noises with his fingernails. “But I meant that’s it’s fucking boring. We don’t even have books right now.”

“That’s how it be sometimes,” Lup sighed and lifted her head a little to look over at him. Then her eyes fixed on something just behind his shoulder. “Oh, if you’re so bored then I have great news for you.” In one swift movement, she jumped to her feet and put her hands in her pockets casually, hiding the fact that she was gripping her wand. 

Johann glanced behind him to see what she was looking at, then also jumped to his feet. Then he swore as the gold violin rolled off his lap and onto his foot.

The figure that had been standing in the trees, just outside the light of their campfire but still pretty visible in the light from the moon, stepped forward. She was a tall, dark-skinned young woman. Her hair was bright white and curly, resting on her shoulders. She was wearing a bright red jacket, covered by a large blue cloak. In one hand, she held a bleach-white staff that looked magical enough that Lup knew she probably wouldn’t be able to beat this person in a magic fight. It might not be an issue, though, as the woman was smiling and looked rather unthreatening.

Actually, her expression wasn’t quite right, not slight surprise like one would expect from a kind stranger running into someone in the woods. But she didn’t look cruel either. Her smile was soft, and relieved? 

“Good evening, you two,” the stranger said. “You can calm down, I am not going to cause you harm.”

“That’s what someone who was going to cause us harm would say,” Lup raised an eyebrow.

“I want to help you,” the woman said, “Honestly, I couldn’t think of a less suspicious way to approach you about this.” She looked around the campsite as if trying to find a place to sit, then gave up and decided to stand against a tree near Johann. “I heard about what happened in Neverwinter.” Lup shifted, ready to pull out her wand again, but the woman shook her head, “Don’t worry, I’m not with law enforcement. Actually, that’s part of the deal I want to offer you.”

“Oh, strangers coming from the woods and offering deals in the dead of night, very specifically not legal, great.”

“Please, just hear me out,” the woman put one hand over her heart, “I’m trying to do some good, and make sure what happened in Neverwinter can never happen again. All I need from you is the ṗ̶̘ḩ̷͗i̷̢͛l̶̳͘ọ̵̃ś̶̺o̴͍̍p̷̬͒ḣ̶̨e̵̬̍r̸̖̍'̶͇̽s̴̻͂ ̷̻̂s̸͇̿t̴̲̏ö̷̲n̴̮͝ȩ̶̾.”

Lup twitched her ears. She couldn’t catch those last few words. It was like the stranger’s voice had suddenly turned to static. “Sorry, what? Hairball in your throat?”

The woman frowned, shook her head, and tried again. “I need the stone you acquired in Gorgon Mansion.” 

Johann glanced at Lup, but she didn’t take her eyes off the woman, so as not to give anything away. “What makes you think we have it? Why would I carry around a fucking nuke like that?”

“It was not in the mansion, and law enforcement would not let anyone inside. No one who had come in contact with the scene showed signs of being under the stone’s power.”

So it really did have some sort of curse on it. “We didn’t find the stone,” Lup lied, “Maybe it just vanished. Job done. That’s our theory.”

The woman shook her head again, this time frowning at Lup. “I know how this stone works. It wants an owner, it wants to be used. It can’t just vanish, and it would call out to anyone that saw it. It is nearly impossible to resist the thrall of this stone, as long as it exists this has a chance of happening again. You need to give me the stone so I can destroy it.”

“Say I did have it,” Lup crossed her arms, “Let’s talk hypothetical here, how would you destroy it?”

“I would take it back to my home and destroy it. It’s a very particular process, it can’t be done by just anyone.”

“Oh, that sounds perfectly innocent. I want to  _ see _ it destroyed.” Lup ignored the way Johann was looking between them and frowning.

“I’m afraid I can’t bring you to my home. I can only beg you believe me, for the good of the world, that I know how get rid of the stone and make sure no one else gets hurt because of it.”

Lup stared at the stranger. This woman looked so earnest. Lup had only survived her childhood because she didn’t trust people. How else could she have survived? But lately she’d been such a bleeding heart. She just felt like this woman really only wanted what was best. She looked tired and worried. She could be faking it, but... 

Jeez, first Barry and now this woman. She wanted to trust her. And well, it wasn’t like Lup knew how to destroy the stone herself, and she didn’t exactly want to carry around an evil chatterbox.

“What’s the deal?” she asked, finally.

“What do you mean?”

“You were offering a deal, what is it? Deal sorta implies we get something too.”

The woman nodded. “I can do several things to help you in exchange. I want to remove as much evidence of this entire mishap as I can,” Her mouth turned up around the edges is a tiny smirk, “Honestly I should do it if only so the economy isn’t destroyed by this huge amount of gold. And To prevent fighting over who gets the money for it.” She cleared her throat. “I can get law enforcement to leave you alone about the Gorgon Incident. I can also take whatever gold items you took from the mansion off your hands, in exchange for money. So you can get back on your feet, perhaps settle in one place, you understand.”

“Why would we want to settle in one place?” Lup asked. “He’s a travelling bard and I’m his bodyguard, it’s sorta what we do.”

She shifted on her feet and tightened her grip on her staff. Something strange was going on with her expression, a look in her eyes that Lup could only guess was concern. “It’s a very dangerous world, and you have already made a habit of looking for trouble. If one travels for too long, running into danger with no one at her back, she’ll find things she isn’t ready for. Like her death, or worse.”

Lup blinked. “Is that a threat?”

“Sorry, can we pause for like, two whole seconds?” Johann spoke up suddenly. Both women turned to look at him. “I know you are having this weird ominous conversation and all and I’ve been quiet cause talking to ominous people is really more of a you thing, but I’ve got three whole things I really gotta clear up here. One, we have the stone? Why would you lie to me about that?”

“Well,” Lup started, but Johann was still ticking things off on his fingers.

“Two, we’ve got a gold cat we can give you but can I keep the violin? It actually sounds pretty good and if it wasn’t so heavy I’d use it all the time. That’d help get attention when I’m playing, actually.” The woman opened her mouth to respond, but Johann cut her off as well. “Three, my toe is bleeding because I dropped the fucking golden violin on it. Do you have any bandaids, ominous lady?”

“Oh, I actually do,” the woman reached into one of the pockets of her jacket and tossed a box of bandaids to Johann. “I’ll answer the other two, if you don’t mind? I imagine she didn’t tell you about the stone because its thrall is very, very powerful. If you knew it was still around, you would be tempted to use it, no matter what.” 

Johann scoffed a little as he opened the band aids. “Why would I want to use it? I don’t want to turn people into gold.”

The woman shook her head. “It’s a thrall. I would make you want to use it, and you wouldn’t be able to fight it.” When Johann didn’t say anything further, she kneeled down to pick up the gold violin and examine it. It had still been on the ground where Johann had dropped it. She straightened up and held it in the firelight so she could see it properly. “I suppose that as long as you don’t go telling everyone where you got it, you can keep the violin. It is… pretty cool.”

“It’s fucking rad,” Johann replied, deadpan.

Then, she fixed Lup with a look. “If you listen to my advice about settling somewhere and not travelling anymore, there is a university of spellcasting I know, I can speak with administration about getting you a job teaching there. I’m sure they would give you a place to live on campus, and-”

Lup blinked, uncomprehendingly. “Hold up there for just one itty bitty moment. What, the fuck? Why would I want to teach magic? I barely know magic!”

The stranger faltered. Then she returned Lup’s look of confusion. “You don’t?”

“Nope! Still reading ‘baby’s first mage hand and other absolutely not condescending titles’. I mean, I can defend myself, but where’d you get the idea I know enough to teach?” she scratched the back of her neck. “Or know anything, really? I don’t know shit. I just learned what the country we’re in is called like, a couple months ago.”

The woman gaped. She looked a bit like a goldfish out of water. Lup was starting to feel self-conscious after nearly 30 seconds of stunned silence, but before she could think of something else to say, the woman composed herself. “Of course. Sorry about that, it was just a suggestion. Now, the stone?”

That was some strange behavior that Lup couldn’t really think of an explanation for. For lack of any ideas on how to press that further, she picked up her bag from where it still sat near the fire. She’d been avoiding going through it since she put the rock in there in the first place. Her fingers quickly closed around the small stone.

_ Hey, you’re back! It’s lonely in here! Wouldn’t you hate being trapped all alone, buddy? Come on, I just wanna- _

Adamantly ignoring its voice in her head, she pulled it from the mess of objects in her bag. She stood again and turned back to the woman. The woman had produced a strange, open sphere and held it out for her to place the stone in.

“To contain it, until I can destroy it,” she explained. Lup stepped forward, holding out the stone to place it in the sphere. Before she could, there was a sudden movement to her right and then a thud, and she jumped to face Johann. 

“Ow, fuck,” he muttered, from where he was facedown in the grass. 

“What was that?” Lup asked.

The woman snatched the stone from her and put it in the sphere. “He stepped forward to try and take the stone but forgot his foot was injured, it seems. You really must be incredibly careful with these things, their thrall is incredibly powerful.”

“Things?” Lup turned back to her, “You just said things, plural. Fucking shit, I knew it, there are more than just that aren’t there?” 

She ignored her and tucked the sphere away inside her cloak. “Can I see that golden cat your bard friend mentioned?”

Lup sighed and dug into her bag again, producing the cat. “You might as well take it, we had no idea what to do with it anyway.” 

The woman nodded as she took the cat, then raised her staff a little. “Alright. I will be back in the morning with your money.” 

And then she vanished.

“Hey wait!” Lup shouted, waving her arms in the space the strange lady had just been, but she was gone. “Dammit! That was stupid of me. Really stupid. Everyone knows to ask for the money first!”

Johann stood, rubbing his nose where he’d hit it on the ground. “Did she take my violin with her?” He asked, looking around for it.  Lup punched a tree.

  
  


Luckily, the strange woman had followed through on her promise. When Lup and Johann woke the next morning, they found a new caravan parked just beside their campsite. At first they’d been afraid it belonged to some other travellers, but inside was a table with a large bag of gold, the golden violin, and a note. The note said, “I improved your violin. I’m a bit of an amatuer artificer. I just enchanted it so it will be less heavy and hopefully less toes will be injured over the rest of your travels. Lup, if you insist on ignoring my advice to settle and keep travelling, please do me one more favor. Do not track down more danger, or more of these items. Stay safe.”

Lup looked up from the note at Johann, who was experimentally weighing the gold violin in his hands. “Did we ever tell her my name?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little shorter chapter for now, either next one will be super long or i'll have to split that one up too.  
> in this one johann injures himself twice to even it out after lup kept falling in the past two chapters  
> also i don't see much post-stolen century but pre-BOB luce   
> unluckyrose.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my various friends for helping me develop this idea and kicking me until i actually posted it
> 
> my tumblr is https://unluckyrose.tumblr.com/


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